Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Okay, where am I?

Hold on.

Who am I?

Hmm possible amnesia, what’s the plan for-

Plan? Do I have a plan?

Confused, the man slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He was lying on a beach with no memory of having got there. Or any memory at all. It was hot and sunny and very very sandy. It was a bit uncomfortable.

He wore a blue hoodie, black pants, and dark blue sneakers. That wasn’t what interested him though. His hands were blue…. All of his skin was blue! He ran through a list of hybrid options he might be in his head.

Wow, I may not know anything about myself right now, but I must have been smart.

He felt a flicker of satisfaction at the thought. So, what to do now. He could get up and look around, or he could try to ask himself questions to jog his memory. Before he could decide however, he heard footsteps that could only be described as a baby elephant that lost its footing. He looked up (Still lying on the sand) and saw a man staring at him.

The man had a red sweater with some white ‘play’ symbol on it, grey pants with an absurd amount of pockets, and what looked like black and red slip on shoes with…. more pockets? He had messy blonde hair and dark brown eyes. The newcomer looked well built with broad shoulders and imposing height. Hmm. Maybe the height was just because the person looking at him was on the floor.

Was this man a threat? He could have any manner of hidden weapons, especially in those pockets....”Are you dead?” the blonde’s voice yanked him from his thoughts.

The blue man cleared his throat, “No it appears I’m not.”

“What chu’ doin’ on the ground then?” the blonde said, offering his hand to help the other up.

He ignored the outstretched arm and climbed to his feet himself, coming up to about the same height.

Oooookaaaay, bit of a jerk

The blonde thought

But maybe he’s just frightened of me. I have discovered I am no small man.

“What’s your name?” he asked the blue man politely.

“Sandiction,” came the immediate reply. Sand frowned

How’d I know that?

“Cool, I’m Skip!” the blonde said, extending his hand again.

Reluctantly, Sand shook it. He could already tell he didn’t like this guy. He had no idea why though. Skip flashed him a crooked smile that made Sand glower at him. He got the feeling he hated his own smile, and seeing someone else look so confident in giving one made his blood boil.

Skip took one look at the man who was glaring at him as if he wished Skip would drop dead, and turned away so his back was to the death stare and his eyes were to the ocean, “So, how’d you get here?”

“Don’t know,” Sand gritted his teeth. He shouldn’t be so mean so soon, he didn’t even know the guy! Sand adopted a neutral expression and stated calmly, “I think I have amnesia and-”

“Me too!” Skip interrupted turning back to him excitedly, “I didn’t even know I knew my name until, like, five seconds ago!”

Sand looked around, “So how long you been up?”

“ ‘bout 10 minutes I’d say, woke up near a river over thataway.” Skip replied, pointing away from the ocean. “I decided to explore a bit when I found you. Nearly gave me a heart attack, seeing’ you just layin’ there!”

Skip looked back only to find Sand was walking away from him along the shore. “Hey, Wait up!” He called, chasing after the other.

Sand rolled his eyes. He would try to find society. Maybe there was a doctor somewhere around here. Skip jogged to his side, “So, where we goin’?”

“I’M going to look for a village, YOU can do whatever you want.” came the terse reply.

Skip considered this for a moment

If I’m gonna get lost, might as well have some company I guess.

“Ok, I’ll follow you.”

Sand groaned, “Fine whatever, I don’t care.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deep in a forest on the same island, another man clambered to his feet. He glanced around. Huh. Thoroughly confused he started walking aimlessly in a random direction as he pondered his situation.

I’m in a jungle. I am wearing a white long sleeve I will most definitely get dirty. I can’t seem to remember anything about myself. I am very thirsty. My sandals itch. My shorts don’t even have real pockets!

“And my voice is…. Nice! Yes, score!”

He walked around until he found a puddle. He stared into it, gazing at the person who stared back, then started laughing, “Ha! Wow, ok not quite what I was expecting, but alright I’ll take it!”

He tousled his fluffy hair, it was almost gold, he had blue/green eyes and, to his delight, perfectly straight white teeth. His ears also slightly came to a point. He bounced up and down happily, satisfied with his appearance, then took off running.

Why? He didn’t know. He just felt like it.

He swerved to avoid trees, ducked under branches and leaped over roots and rocks. He wasn’t particularly fast, but it felt nice to get rid of some of his excess energy.

He was having fun, until he crashed into somebody who was also running. Much faster than he was.”Owww!”

"F#$k"

He sat bolt upright to see a man with rich dark skin, and even darker eyes and dreadlocks staggering back to his feet. He was well muscled with a black hoodie and pants, and (somehow) pristine white sandshoes. His eyes lit up upon seeing the man on the ground, “Sorry man didn’t see ya there!”

The other stood up quickly, “What are you running from!?”

“Ah, nothin’, just wanted to see how good I was at it. Why were you running?”

The blonde shrugged, “just wanted to I guess. I’m Failboat!” he extend his hand

Wait, I am?

“Jaymoji!” the other replied, shaking his hand with a very enthusiastic and painful grip. “Nice to meet some intelligent life on this island!”

“Island?”

“Yeah man, I mean, I’m pretty sure.”

“I’m gonna guess you didn’t see anyone else while you we’re runnin’ huh?”

“Naaaaah, did find a cool rock though.”

“Ooo can I see?”

“Yeah sure man!” and Jay took off with Fail hard on his heels.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Elsewhere on the island) In a rocky plain, a man was carefully making his way through the rocks.

Ooooooooh boy, Okay, no food, no water, no communication of any kind. No memories and apparently no bravery.

“Right. Everything will be juuuust fi-WHOAH!” He was cut off from his monologue as multiple rocks shifted under his feet and he had to fight for balance.

He ran a trembling hand through his hair, which he could barely see the white ends of. He set off again slowly, “There you go, eeeeeasy does it. There! Hah!” he hopped off the rocks onto wonderfully firm dirt.

“Everything is fine, you don’t know where you are or anything about yourself but that’s fineeee. It’ll all probably figure itself out…. Eventually.”

“Yeah, I hope so.”

He screamed (an embarrassingly shrill scream) as he spun around searching for the owner of the voice. He found the owner as a curly brown haired man with impressive antlers on his head, covering his ears. “Wow man, didn’t mean to scare you like that, sorry!”

The white haired man stared at the newcomer who then asked him, “Where am I? I seem to have gotten a bit lost.”

Lavender eyes met violet. The violet ones blinked first and their owner cleared his throat, “I don’t know. You wouldn’t happen to remember who you are, would you?” He inwardly cringed, such a weird question.

He probably thinks I’m a freak.

But the lavender eyes just widened and the antlers turned side to side as he shook his head. “So you don’t remember either huh? Well, all I seem to know is that my name is Rekrap, but I prefer just Rek.”

“Ok ‘just Rek’” The other said with a weak smile, “I’m Branzycraft, but call me Branzy.”

“So are there others like us here?” Rek asked, scanning the area. He was vaguely surprised he wasn’t the only one. He then gave Branzy a good look. He had a purple long sleeve with a black vest that looked slightly expensive. He had black pants and what was probably once well polished black shoes, but they were now dusty and a bit scratched from climbing the rocks.

He looks nervous..

Rek himself was wearing a hoodie with blue and black sleeves and gold and grey patterned torso. He had grey pants with two mediocre sized pockets (with nothing in them, he checked), and very nice grey and blue running shoes. To Branzy he looked courageous. Powerful! Concerned….

“You with me Branzy?” he interrupted Branzy’s thoughts.

Swallowing Branzy nodded, “Y-Yep! Sorry, zoned out a little there.”

“It’s fine, don't worry.” Rek assured him, “We should look for other people. We might not be the only ones on the island.”

“That’s true!” Branzy said brightening. More people meant safety in numbers!

“Alright then, let’s go!” and Rek set off at a swift pace across the grass.

The two walk in companionable silence for a while until Branzy asked, “I’m sorry I have to know, do you have hooves?”

Rek blinked, then stopped walking and took off his shoe to check, “Ah nope! That’s a shame, they would’ve been so cool!”

“Wait, you didn’t know if you had hooves?”
“Nah, I hadn’t thought to check for hybrid features when I woke up. What made you ask about hooves though?”

Branzy stared at him, “....Seriously?”

Rek froze, “What?”

“Have you felt the top of your head recently?”

Rek frowned then slowly reached his hand into his hair. His jaw dropped when he felt his antlers. “Oh my word,” he rushed to the nearest puddle. “You didn’t tell me I had horns!!!” he squealed happily.

“How did you not feel them?”

“I thought my head felt heavy as a side effect from the amnesia!” he gasped, “Do I have a tail?” Rek spun in circles looking behind him.

Branzy laughed, “I think you would know if you had a tail. And you didn’t see your horns from your shadow?”

Rek shook his head, “I only just got out of the forest, and the tree’s shadows block mine. I can’t believe I have horns though. Wait, doesn’t that kinda make the hood of my sweater useless?”

“A bit,” Branzy agreed as he resumed walking. In the unknown with a friend next to him, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

Chapter Text

“Damn, you were right, that is a cool rock.”

“Right?”

Jay and Fail sat down on the cool rock in question and relaxed. Fail was breathing heavy from running, but Jay just sat as if he had barely walked at all. Jay was wondering if he had a pet, and what it would have been. Fail pondered what his own occupation could have been, he noticed he had a strong grip, but wondered what job he could possibly do in sandals.

Suddenly, something coarse and dark slapped him in the face. “What the hell!” he exclaimed, swatting at the air in front of him.

“What?” Jay asked, looking around alarmed.

“Something just hit me in the face!”

“What?”

“I dunno,” Fail looked around for the culprit. His eyes landed on Jay who was also looking around. Jay’s hair was moving! Every now and then a dread would flick, almost like a nervous twitch. “It’s you!” Fail exclaimed standing up.

“What! It’s on me!? Where!” Jay spun around shaking his arms and head vigorously.

“It’s not on you, it is you! It’s your hair!” Failboat said, starting to laugh.

“Is me, how?” Jay grabbed a strand of his hair and looked at it. It flicked toward his face and he yelped in surprise, stumbling backward. “Get it off, get it off!”

Fail was full on laughing now. Hysterical laughter escaped his lips as he watched his new friend panic, “It’s your own hair!”

Jay finally calmed down long enough to carefully inspect his hair. He pounded his fist in the air, “That’s so COOL!”

Both doubled over laughing. Fail stood up wiping tears from his eyes. Before he knew what he was doing, he had reached a hand out to touch a lock of Jay’s hair. Jay swatted his hand away. “Sorry! I just wanted to touch it again!” 

Jay laughed, “Hands to yourself!”

They continued to sit back down on the cool rock and just chat for a bit. It was pretty hot on the Island. Fail was really thirsty, and Jay wanted to go explore, so they decided to go explore in search of a clean water source.

After about 10 minutes of walking, they came to a crystal clear stream, and Fail hurriedly ran down. He cupped his hands drinking handfuls of water until he was satisfied.

“Uhhhh, Fail?”

“Yeah?”

“Come and look at this.”

Jay was staring at a huge stretch of sandy land, and distantly a small village could be seen. “Do you think there are people there?”

Fail shrugged, “Let’s find out!”

The two immediately took off, rapidly approaching the village. They quickly reached it. “Oh void.”

The village was completely deserted with nobody in sight. Some of the houses’ roofs collapsed, wooden doors rotted, and most lampposts  had either fallen over, were gone, or broken. There weren’t even any rats or mice. Jay looked around, it felt weird here, not bad, just hollow.

Fail shifted beside him, “What do you think happened here?”

“It looks like everyone just packed up and left.”

Jay walked to the nearest house with its roof still attached, and kicked the door down. He stepped inside carefully, looking for anything that could be of any use. It was very barren, a green bed was in the far corner, an empty space where Jay guessed the kitchen would go, and a singular chest in another corner. He slowly made his way to the chest. It was covered in a film of dust and sand. He opened it cautiously, aware of the film falling off as he moved it. Inside was a small brown leather bag with a rope tying it shut, a glass filled with some kind of potion, and a strange small golden figure with gleaming emerald eyes. The figure interested Jay the most. He felt drawn to it as it stared into his soul. He carefully slipped the figure into his sweater pocket, and zipped it closed, not wanting to lose it.

He came out holding the bag and potion to Fail anxiously waiting for him outside. “Ooo what’d you find!” Fail asked, rushing over.

“No idea.” Jay threw the bag at him as he inspected the potion. It was a deep scarlet color and was very thin as it sloshed around the bottle.

It looks deliciously appetizing.

Fail meanwhile was struggling to untie the rope. Seriously, who designed this bag, it was impossible to get into! Suddenly Jay elbowed him, “You should fill that up with water so you don’t get thirsty again.”
“Good idea!” Fail replied, immediately forgetting he couldn’t open the bag.

Fail started running back to the stream from before. 

“Hey wait for me!” Jay sprinted to catch up with him.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Branzy was stuck in a hole. It was a large hole about like a small cave, but instead of its entrance being to the side, it was to the top. He hadn’t meant to fall in, one second he was talking to Rek, and the next he had tripped over a root (that really shouldn’t have been there) and fallen into a hole. In Branzy’s defence the hole used to be covered with vines and stuff, so neither of them knew it was there. See? Not his fault.

To Rek, he had been talking to Branzy when suddenly his new friend tripped on a root (that really really shouldn't have been there) and as he fell, the ground swallowed him whole. Both were frozen in shock for a few seconds, one standing up and the other lying underground, until Rek leapt into action, “Branzy are you ok?!” He shouted as he edged closer to where Branzy disappeared, careful not to be swallowed too.

“Yeah,” his voice sounded echoey, “Don’t fall in!”

“I’ll try not to, where are you?”

“Uhhh, underground? A cave? Somewhere dark and wet and there are bugs.”

Rek grabbed some vines on the ground he suspected to be the culprit of Branzy’s disappearance and pulled hard. They came free with little effort and revealed a dark and wet cave with a lot of bugs. Branzy stared up at him with wide eyes. “There’s something crawling up my leg.”

“Then get it off!”

Branzy did as instructed, eyes tightly shut as he knocked off whatever it was that was trying to use him as a playground. “Stay right there,” Rek called to him, “I’ll find something to get you out!” 

Branzy rolled his eyes as Rek disappeared.

Because I was definitely gonna just walk away huh?

Rek ran around the jungle looking for either a long sturdy branch or vine. Finally he found one, but it was hanging from a branch way out of reach. He rubbed his hands together as he prepared to climb the very tall, very rough tree.

He got a running start, using his speed to kick off the base of another nearby tree, he hit the trunk with a dull thud as he wrapped his arms around it. Rek then hauled himself up, one branch at a time til he was well above ground. He reached for the vine, fingers barely grazing it. He pulled back, loosened his grip with the other hand and stretched for the vine again.

At this point, Branzy was starting to freak out. He had found something out about himself though! He was scared of bugs, mostly scorpions. Not exactly ideal in a cave full of critters. Branzy just focused on his breathing trying to calm down.

In                                                                                                    and out

In                                                                                                    and out

In                                      Crack! Crunch! “OUCH!”          uh oh

Rek pushed himself shakily to his feet. He hadn’t fallen that far, and a couple branches slowed him down. He checked his body, making sure all limbs were properly functional.

No broken bones, but I’m in for some hellish bruising.

He stumbled back to the Branzy hole, “I got a vine!”

“Oh thank goodness, I thought you died!”

“Not today!” Rek tossed one end of the vine into the hole. Branzy grabbed it, prayed he had adequate upper body strength, and hauled himself out. “Oh thank you so much!” Branzy threw his arms around an unsuspecting Rekrap, squeezing him in a tight hug.

“Whoa buddy, it was no problem,” he patted the other on the back, not sure what else to do.

“Are you hurt?”

“Nah, you?”

“No.”

“Ready to keep walking?”

“Yeah, sure.”

And the two set off again, spirits shaken and bodies bruised. They walked in silence, it was a beautiful day, but it was approaching dusk and they hadn’t eaten or drank anything in some time. They passed through the thicker part of the forest and came to a gurgling stream.

Cries of delight escaped the travellers as they rushed at the chance of water, only to hear voices.

“-ou mean you don’t know how?”

“I mean I can’t! It just won’t work!”
“We came all this way, and you don’t know how to open the bag?”

“Well you try then!”

Rek and Branzy rounded the bend to see two people, who turned to stare at them, mid tug-o-war for a small leather bag.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sand was tired, he really was. This Skip guy wouldn’t stop trying to cheer him up. He didn’t want to be cheered up! He wanted Skip to leave him be!

They had been walking for over an hour along the shore of the Island. Sand was searching for proof that they could have arrived here by boat, but there was no sign of a ship, or even the wreckage of one. Skip had tried multiple times to convince him to explore further inland. He told Skip he could (that would get Skip to leave him alone), but the man had just shrugged and kept walking with him! How annoying.

“Berries!” Skip exclaimed, racing further up the slope to inspect.

“They might be poisonous.” 

One can hope.

“They might not be!”

Sand sighed, like it or not, they both needed food. He followed skip slowly, dragging his feet. “Are they poisonous?” Skip asked him.

“How would I know?”

“I dunno, you seem like you would know this sorta thing.”

Sand glared at him, but Skip had already rounded the bush. Sand studied the berry in his hand. I could be poisonous. It looked exactly like a blackberry, but he didn’t know if blackberries had any dangerous look-alikes.

“Sandiction you HAVE to see this!”

Sand sighed again. “I don’t HAVE to do any….” his words died in his throat. Behind the wall of berry bushes stood a massive building. It looked mostly made out of sand, with two large pillars on the front corners, and an entrance in between them leading into a pyramid. “What is that?” Sand asked.

“I don’t know, isn’t it cool though?”

“Meh….”

“Meh!?”

“Meh.”

“Wanna go expl-”

“No.”

“Buzzkill.”

“Whatever.”

Skip stared longingly at the pyramid, want for adventure making his heart ache. Sand had already turned around and was back to inspecting berries. The sun was almost starting to set behind the pyramid, casting it in a dazzling glow. Oh he wanted to rush in it so bad, but he didn’t want to leave Sand behind. Anxious to get Sand to move on from the berries, he snatched one from Sand’s hand. “Hey! I was looking at that!” Sand exclaimed indignantly.

Skip looked him dead in the eye…. And popped the berry in his mouth. “You imbecile. That could be poisoned.”

Skip shrugged, “tastes good.” He started picking handfuls of the sweet berries and eating them without hesitation. Sand stared at him aghast, “If you drop dead, I’m not helping you.”

“W’ll uh ‘hourse nhot, ah’d be ded,” he mumbled around a mouth full of berries.

“You’re so weird.”

Skip swallowed, “Guilty as charged!” and saluted Sand.

“Hey!”

Both of them jumped. If Skip was still swallowing berries he would’ve choked. They watched in silent shock as a group of four people ran up to them. Sand eyed them coldly as they drew closer. “Who are you?” he asked when they stopped in front of them.

“I’m Jaymoji,” the closest one offered his hand, “this is Branzycraft, Failboat, and Rekrap! We’re all stuck on this island too!”

Skip shook his hand smiling, “Oh good we’re not the only ones! I’m Skip, and my depressed comrade is Sandiction.”

Fail and Branzy laughed, and Sand shot Skip (yet another) dirty look. Jay extended his hand towards Sand who (not so) respectively declined. “Nice to meet you two,” Rek said, stepping forward, “I'm assuming neither of you remember anything?”

“Nope!”

“Yeah we don’t either.”

“Skip ate possibly poisonous berries.”

Skip looked at Sand, “Why would you even say that?”

Sand shrugged, “Just cuz. If you suddenly dropped dead, these people wouldn’t have to wonder why.”

“There are berries here?” Branzy asked hungrily.

“Yeah right there,” Skip pointed to the bush behind himself. “And I’m like 85% sure they aren’t deadly by the way.”

“Nope!” Jay declared, “Blackberries have no dangerous look-alikes. They’re only bad if they’re old.”

Everyone stared at him. Fail spoke up first, “How’d you know that?”

Jay scratched the back of his head self-consciously, “I don’t know. I just did.”

“T’stes ‘lrite,” Branzy declared with his mouth full. 

Everyone crowded around the wall of bush, enjoying a berry supper, when Sand pointed to the small brown leather bag hanging from Fail’s waist, “Where'd you get a bundle?”

Fail blinked, “Is that what this is?” he asked, holding it up for everyone to see.

“Yeah, A bundle is like a bag that has much more space inside of it than seen on the outside.”

“Wow! Do you know how to open it?” Fail handed the bundle to Sand.

“You mean you don’t?” Sand opened it with ease.

Fail’s jaw dropped, and Jay elbowed him. “It was that easy?” Fail asked as Sand handed it back.

“Uh, yeah?”

“Sweet! Thanks!”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rek looked around the group of people sitting on the sandy ground. It was past sunset by now. The group had filled up on berries (careful to still leave some on the bush) and were now quietly talking to each other in the dark. Skip was finally talking to someone who enjoyed being talked to, and talking to him. He and Branzy were discussing the types of foods they could make with black berries, and had eventually started a friendly argument over muffins and pies (even though neither remembered trying either of those). Jay was attempting to hold a decent conversation with Sand, who was not interested and gave him one word answers (if he answered at all). And himself and Fail had been discussing possibilities to spend the night. They had come to an agreement that the abandoned village was the most optimal.

Fail coughed loudly to get the attention of the others, it (mostly) worked. “So Rek and I thought it would be best if we went to an abandoned village that Jay and I found for the night, that way we’re out of the cold.” And for a desert, it was surprisingly very cold. “That alright with you guys?”

Murmurs of agreement came from almost everyone. “Branzy? Skip?” Everyone looked at the two who were still arguing over muffins and pies. “Branzy. Skip. Guys?”

“I got this,” Jay said calmly. He took a deep breath in, “EXCUSE ME!!!!!!”

Skip leapt to his feet, and Branzy squealed, both looking around at the now laughing group. “Don’t shout like that Jeez!” Branzy said, clutching his chest. As he tried to calm his racing heart, Skip knelt down, scooped up a handful of sand and threw it directly at Jay. “OWWW!” Jay shrieked as it flew in his eyes.

Fail leapt up to his defense, grabbing a handful of his own, and throwing it at Skip. “oh it’s ON!” Branzy shouted, joining the fray. Jay and Skip recovered, only to immediately start throwing sand at each other. 

Branzy grabbed Rek’s arm dragging him up to his and Skip’s side, as Fail did the same with Sand. It was now a full on brawl. Sand and dirt flew in every direction as people sprinted around ducking, dodging, and slamming into each other. At first it was Skip Branzy and Rekrap against Jay Fail and Sandiction, but as the battle raged, it turned into a free-for-all. Everybody threw sand at everybody, people fell to the ground, only to get back up and go at it some more. Sandiction and Rek, who had at first been trying to avoid the battle, soon found themselves fighting as hard as everyone else, and having a blast too!

After over half an hour had passed, six people found themselves lying on a heap of sand giggling happily. Six people who hadn’t even known each other a full day, already friends. Six friends who knew nothing about themselves, the others, or the Island they were on, and they’d hardly ever been happier.

Chapter Text

Six deranged, dirty, very tired people stumbled into an abandoned village, still giggling. After looking around for a bit, they split up without a word. Everyone took a house (that still had its roof) for themselves. Unlike the first time someone entered one of the houses, no one stopped to look in the chests. They were too tired, and just collapsed on the beds, not caring if someone else had previously been on them.

Soon enough they were all asleep, and the night passed without hazard. No one noticed the mobs roaming outside the village. The skeletons shooting at each other, the zombies roaming in hordes, or the massive spiders climbing up large objects in search of prey.

Rek was the first to wake up. Exactly at dawn, he realized looking out of a hole in the wall. He looked around, he hadn’t thought to check for any food when he first came in. Now he was hungry though, so he got up to look. There was a furnace embedded in one of the walls, no food, but it had coal in it. He would have to remember that.

He walked over to a chest in the opposite corner of the small house and opened it. Three things lie in the chest, the first was a pickaxe. It looked like it was made of stone, shifting that aside there was a hoe. It glimmered in the weak light, it looked like it was made out of some black material and covered in softly glowing purple light. The last thing was a sword in a leather sheath. Carefully Rek unsheathed it to find a well made iron Falchion.

He laid the first two items out of the chest in the corner. He expertly strapped the sword to his back, as if he had done it a hundred times before. Time to go see if the others are up. He started walking out the door, but stopped for a moment. He came back in, grabbed the pickaxe and hoe

Just in case.

And walked right back out.

Jay woke up second, not long after Rek. He was in the house he had gone into first. He didn’t wanna wake, it was nice under the blankets. They were heavy, so he felt protected, but they weren’t hot. They were juuuust right. He was itching to get up and about though…. Oh decisions. With a sigh he heaved himself up, and dragged his feet out the door. Rek’s eyes lit up when he saw Jay, “I didn’t know whether to wake you guys or not!” he called out.

Jay smirked, “I do!”

He rushed to the nearest house with someone still in it and banged on the door like there was no tomorrow. “WAKE UP LAZY BIRDS! IT’S TIME TO GET CRACKEN’!”

“Go away.” Sand’s groggy voice was unmistakable. Jay ran off to give the others the same treatment, who were all not very thrilled about being woken up early.

“It’s not even 10 O’ Clock yet!” Skip exclaimed.

“We don’t even have a clock.” Fail murmured after yawning.

“So you can’t prove me wrong!”

“What’d you guys find in your chests?” Rek asked them once they had gathered.

“There are chests?” Branzy asked.

“We didn’t exactly get the time to go through them, BECAUSE SOMEBODY WOKE US UP TOO EARLY!” Skip shouted the last part passionately.

“I’m gonna go through mine,” Sand said, already walking back to his house.

Fail shrugged at Branzy and they both went back to their respective houses, Skip following suit. 

Sand opened his chest and recognized the items immediately. Another bundle, a flint and steel, and a few large obsidian blocks. He stuffed the obsidian into the bundle, hung it from his waist, picked up the flint and steel, and froze. An idea had just popped into his head. After a second he shook it, no, it wouldn’t work. Oh well. A yawn suddenly overcame him, he would have to lay down some ground-rules about waking people up early after a long night.

Fail opened his chest to see a small packet full of what looked like seeds. A chisel. And a bucket. He plopped the other items into the bucket and ran out, eager to get back to the others.

Everyone gathered around again holding their items. Skip held a massive axe in one hand (No one knows how it fit in the chest) and a long coil of good quality rope in the other. “Did you only get two items?” Jay asked him.

“Yup!” Skip nodded.

“Me too,” Branzy held up a lightweight wooden bow in one hand and a hammer in the other. Fail narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything. The two’s answers felt wrong somehow.

After seeing Rek’s items Fail offered an Idea, “So I have a packet of seeds, and you have a majestic hoe,” he pointed to Rek, “Why don’t we try to grow something.”

Rek shrugged, “I’m down.”

“Great!” The two split off to find some dirt to plant it in, leaving the others to compare their loot.

Branzy walked over to Skip, “Can I ask you something in private?”

Skip raised an eyebrow, “Sure,” and followed Branzy away from a confused Jay and an indifferent Sandiction.

Once they were a good length away from the village, but still in the desert, Branzy turned back to the other, “Did you actually only get two items?”

Skip shifted uncomfortably, “No, I got three.”

“OK,” Branzy was relieved, “Me too.”

“What else did you get?”

Branzy looked around, “Ok don’t tell anyone, and I don’t know what it is but,” He pulled out a small golden figure with emerald eyes. (Identical to Jay’s)

Skip’s eyes widened, “Whoah, that looks so cool! Mine pales a bit in comparison to that, but I just didn’t want to freak anyone out.” He pulled out a stack of TNT.

Branzy stifled a laugh, “And I wonder why someone might freak out over that??”

Skip grinned, “No idea!”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So you think this is gonna work?”

“No clue. Hopefully.”

Rek carefully tilled the soil as Fail placed the seeds behind him. Neither of them completely knew what they were doing, and were taking their best guesses. “I could, uh, fill my bundle with water,” Fail said, “Maybe we should pour some on the seeds after we get them all down?”

“Good idea.” 

The two weren’t far from the village, but far enough away to get good dirt at least. They had also made sure it was closer to the stream Jay and Fail had found. “It must not be this hot where I come from.” Fail panted, “This feels tortuous!”

“Ah, you’ll probably get used to it.”

“Nice sword by the way.”

“Oh. Thank you!”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jay set down his potion, “Alright, now you’ve seen mine, what items d’you get?”

Sand removed the bundle from his waist and held it up, “This is one,” he pulled out the flint and steel, “This is one I’m pretty sure, even though it’s in two pieces” Lastly, he dumped some of the obsidian blocks, “And this is the rest.”

Jay’s eyes widened, “Hey, that’s what the cool rock was made out of!”

Sand blinked, “Cool rock?”

“Yeah! It looked like a really cool rock.”

Sand held up a block, “This is obsidian, one of the hardest materials in the overworld. Did you find more of it somewhere?”

“Yep!”

“Show me.”

Jay took off running without hesitation. Surprised, Sand sprinted after him, “I didn’t mean run, we could’ve walked!”

“This is quicker!” 

After a few minutes of running, “Here it is!”

“That’s not      just a rock. That’s a     ruined     nether portal!” Sand gasped out of breath.

“A what?” Jay blinked.

Sand paused, “A nether portal is a portal that takes you to the nether.” He explained after catching his breath again. “It’s pretty self-explanatory, but this is the ruins of one. We can rebuild it with my blocks.”

“Why would we want to do that?” Jay questioned, “I thought the nether was dangerous.”

Sand looked at him gravely. A plan had just clicked in his mind, the same idea that he had when he first saw the obsidian and flint and steel. The only problem was he didn’t have enough blocks at the time, but now he did. “It is very dangerous, but it’s the only way to get blaze powder. We need that powder to create eyes of ender to get to the end.”

“What do we need to go in the end for?”

“Magic. We might be able to find someone in the end with void magic that can help us get our memories back.”

“Ohhh. And you know all this…. How?” Jay asked.

Sand shrugged, “ I dunno, all I know is that somehow I know the answers to the questions you ask me.”

“Sweet! You wanna go get the others and light this sucker?”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone gathered around the newly completed portal. Sand took out his flint and steel, and looked back at the others, “You guys ready?”

A collection of nods in varying degrees of confidence.

Alright, here goes nothing.

He struck the flint and steel together over the portal frame. Sparks flew, breaths held, and the portal lit.

Chapter Text

The nether is hot.

Incredibly hot.

It feels like my skin is melting off.

Rek was the first to go through the portal, and the first to experience the astounding heat. The portal was on top of a large platform of red rock. To the right there seemed to be a wall that connected to a roof, and to the left the ground eventually came to a steep drop to lava. Rek was grateful he wasn’t near that edge when someone bumped into him from behind. “Oh, sorry! I tripped.” Fail looked around, “Why is it so hot here?”

“I dunno,” Jaymoji said sarcastically, stepping out from behind him, “Maybe it’s the burning lava everywhere?”
“Wow really?” Skip’s voice was also sarcastic, “I never would’ve guessed that!”

“Shut up and move please, you’re blocking everyone else’s view.” Sand casually pushed Jay and Skip out of the way.

‘grumpy’ Skip mouthed to Jay. Jay nodded. “So what now?” Rek asked Sand.

Sand shrugged, “What I told Jay, we need to find blaze powder.” Sand could almost picture a plan forming in his head, though he had no idea how he knew what to do. “We need to find a nether fortress,” an image of a giant red brick building popped into his head, “And in there we will find blazes.” He saw a fiery golden creature in his mind’s eye. “Kill the blazes, and pick up the rods, then crush the rods to blaze powder.”

“Alrighty then!” Failboat rubbed his hands together and Branzy asked, “I’m gonna guess you don’t know the way to the fortress?” Sand shook his head. 

“Time for a bit of adventure then huh!” Skip was practically bouncing up and down.

“Whoa man, we don’t even know what direction we’re going in, calm down.” Fail snickered.

“What about that direction?” Jay pointed a random direction that wasn’t toward lava.

Rek shrugged, “Works for me.”

“Yeah.” Branzy agreed.

“Me too.” Skip chimed in.

“Yup!” Fail added.

Sand sighed. “Whatever. As long as we take it slow and be careful.”

Jay pumped his fist in the air, “Alright!” He gestured for Rek to go first. Rek looked at him in surprise, “Don’t you wanna lead?”

“Nah, you’re clearly the most sensible of us all.”

Sand frowned at that. Rek smiled though, “Thanks man.” and took the lead.

The brave(ish) group trekked a long way before they came to a fortress. Well, they saw the fortress at least. In between them and it were large pillars of basalt (Basaltic columns as Branzy called them) with lava between the pillars. “Are these steady?” Branzy asked, reaching out to push one. It didn’t budge.

Having seen this, Skip looked towards Rek and shrugged. Rek’s eyes widened, “No wait, don-”

“GERONIMO” Skip took a running jump right onto the nearest pillar.

“You IDIOT! You could’ve died!” Rek shouted at him.

“WOO! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Jay ginned at him before leaping onto the pillar as well.

Rek put his head in his hands. “Oh void, I can’t believe you guys.” 

Fail looked around, “They seem safe enough.” and jumped up onto another pillar.

“They’re all idiots,” Sand stated.

“I think they’re brave.” Branzy sighed with longing.

“Amazing how much that line blurres.” Sand murmured in reply.

Branzy made grabby hands toward Skip and Jay, “Help me up.” Skip reached out a hand to pull him to the top. “C’mon Sand, don’t be scared!” Jay called to the man below.

Sand stared up unblinking, “I think I’d rather stay on firm ground thanks.”

“It’s actually not that bad.” Rek (who had finally pulled himself onto a pillar) assured him.

Skip meanwhile had an almost irresistible urge to go leaping from stone to stone, and rush toward adventure. He had half a mind to leave the others, but he stopped himself. He shouldn’t leave them behind he knew that.

Damn moral compass.

After Sand finally made it to the columns, they started their slow journey toward the fortress. Skip and Jay kept passing looks of longing toward each other, but they stuck to the group. Finally there they stood, within arms reach of the nether fortress. Failboat was the first to speak up, “How do we get in?”

Rek unclipped the stone pickaxe from his back (he had tied it there with his sheath for the sword) and held it up. “I could try this.”

Branzy nodded, “Go for it!”

Rek swung the pickaxe once. Twice. And on the third time a hole opened up. On the fourth the hole doubled in size. On the fifth it was big enough for a person to walk through. Rek re-clipped the pick. “So…. who wants to go first?” Fail broke the silence.

Skip and Jay looked at each other, “No,” Sand said, “Not you two. You’ve already proven to be careless in dangerous situations.”

“Aww,” Skip whined while Jay threw Sand a glare.

Rek sighed, “I’ll go. If that’s alright with you guys?” Sand and Branzy nodded. “I’ll be careful, don't worry.”

Slowly the group entered the fortress, with Rek in the lead. It was very stuffy and hot inside, and not very bright. There were sounds coming from above, shuffling, quiet clattering, and what sounded like a low wheeze. “Ok, the blazes should be near the top.” Sand informed them.

“Alright let’s go.”

They passed through multiple identical hallways, until they came to one with a chest in it. Jay stepped forward to open it, with Skip close behind. “Guys, we don’t have time for this.” Branzy told them.

Skip wryly responded, “Why not? Got somewhere to be?” 

Jay snickered. Sand started walking again, “they can look in useless chests if they want to. The staircase up isn’t far.”

“Alright,” Fail said, “be careful guys.”

“I’m always careful,” Jay winked.

“I don’t think we should be leaving those two alone, but Ok.” Branzy muttered.

“So what’s in the chest?” Skip asked Jay once the others had moved along.

Jay first pulled out a golden sword, “It’s so heavy!” and immediately handed it to Skip.

“Oh wow you’re right. How is someone supposed to swing this?”

“Maybe it’s for show.” and Jay pulled out a flint and steel.

“Wanna set something on fire?” Skip asked him.

Jay laughed, “Not yet buddy,” and pulled out two blocks of obsidian.

Skip looked at the loot, “How’re we supposed to carry all this? Fail and Sand walked off with their bundles.”

Jay handed him the flint and steel, “Put this in one of your pockets, I’ll hold the rocks, you hold the sword.”

Skip nodded and stuffed the flint and steel into his top front right leg pocket. “What’d ya think the odds are of finding a sheathe?” he asked as they started moving.

“You really want to carry it on your back?”

“Better than holding it.”
“True.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rek swung his sword through the third blaze. It all just came so easily to him. The sword felt natural in his hand, and he moved effortlessly, almost without even thinking. He felt comfortable. The other three watched him with something close to awe. At first they had hung back a bit, but after the first two blazes were removed so skillfully, they had crept forward for a better view.

The process was simple, Rek waited in a corner, a swirl of smoke came from the spawner, after it cleared, a blaze floated where the centre of the smoke used to be. Rek would swiftly charge it, cut it down, and go back to the corner. Rinse and repeat.

“So how are you guys all handling the heat?” Fail asked.

“Good,” Sand turned to him, “Why’d you ask?”

Branzy shrugged, “Yeah I’m alright, why?”

“I’m not, I’m SO hot.” Fail replied.

“Jeez man, don’t get too presumptuous.” Branzy winked. Fail chuckled at that. “I’ve actually got a question for you, Failboat.”

“Oh yeah? Hit me with it.”

“Does your neck hurt, or are they just scars?”

“Huh?”

Sand explained, “The scratches on the sides of your neck, do they hurt?”

Fail ran a hand along the side of his neck, there WERE scratches there. They felt very light and not very noticeable. “ No, I didn’t even know they were there.”

Branzy stepped a bit closer, “They look perfectly symmetrical. Maybe it’s a hybrid feature??”

Him and Fail look at Sand who shrugged, “Maybe, but I can’t think of any hybrid where the only feature is symmetrical scars.”

“What are we talking about?” Rek popped up, earning a jump from the other three.

“Bodily features.” Fail replied.

Sand face-palmed. “No no no!” Branzy rushed to clarify, “we were talking about hybrid traits.”

“Umm, what about them?” Rek asked hesitantly.

“How many blaze rods did you get?” Sand ignored the question.

“Six, is that enough?” He held up the rods.

“I guess we’ll find out.”

“Should we go back to the others? I feel like we shouldn’t have left them behind.” Branzy told them.

“Yeah, probably not.” Rek agreed.

Fail nodded, “I wonder what they’re up to now….” 

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“THIS IS REALLY BAD!!” Jay screamed, running for his life.

“NO KIDDING DUMBASS!!!” Skip shouted in reply.

The two adventurers were currently racing over the basaltic columns, desperately trying to out-run a horde of black skeletons that were incredibly fast. Oh, the skeletons also had swords. They sprinted as fast as they could , until they were out of breath, and then they kept running. Adrenaline was literally a life saver.

Twisting and turning across the nether, they darted through valleys of dark sand, through strangely colored trees, and large stretches of rock. “I think we lost ‘em.”  Skip panted.

Jay was also exhausted and out-of-breath, but much less so (he had run still holding an obsidian block in each hand, and they were pretty heavy). Jay sat down slowly on the ground, and Skip copied him. After a few minutes of catching their breath Jay looked around and commented, “I guess we’re lost huh?”

Skip sighed heavily, “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Let’s try to find our way back.”

“Yeah.”

They walked slowly, still drained from the run, for a while in what they hoped was the right direction. “Oh no.” Jay whispered. Looming in front of them was a towering black structure. “I think- I think we came the wrong way.”

Skip felt exhaustion pull on his limbs. But he also felt the thrill of adventure start to spike in him again. He knew they should keep walking to find the others, but the prospect of exploration gripped him tightly. To scout something the others hadn’t been in, sure he had explored the fortress with the rest of the group, but this…. This was different. He looked at Jay with longing. Jay caught on immediately, “No, that’s a bad idea.”

Skip raised an eyebrow. Jay narrowed his eyes, “I know I’m not one to talk about not doing something stupid, but we need to find the others.”

Skip stared at him incredulously, still not saying anything. Jay shifted uncomfortably.

No, bad idea. But it’s new, it’d be fun, and Skip’s with you. No, last time we were on our own, we got chased by a bunch murder skeletons. Sand’s not here to tell us what to do or expect…. But that would mean it’s completely new territory for us to discover by ourselves. No Jay. Hold on to your common sense! Ohhhh boy.

“Alright let’s do it.”

Skip grinned, “I knew I could count on you.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ok, now I’m worried.” Fail admitted. The four had been searching for their lost friends for about 15 minutes with no luck. “There’s literally no sign of them anywhere.”

Branzy ran a hand through his hair, “I knew we shouldn’t have left them by themselves.”

“Relax,” Sand told him, “They’re probably just out exploring or something.”

“Or they’re dead.” 

Everyone turned to stare at Fail. Branzy cleared his throat, “Just a ray of sunshine aren’t you?”

“Just sayin’.”

“Ok,” Rek clapped his hands together, “Let’s think through this logically. Skip and Jay are missing. There is no sign of a fight though so they could have just gotten lost.”

“How could they have gotten lost, it’s not that hard to get from the chest we left them at to the blaze spawner.” Sand stated.

“I’m getting to that, hold on. They could have gone back outside to explore the nether, or they could have gone deeper to explore the fortress. What’d you guys think?”

“Outside.” Branzy replied.

“Yeah, probably.”

“Well, maybe.”

“Alright let’s look outside then.”`

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The inside of the structure was dark and hot. Well. Everything was hot to Jay. He followed Skip through a dark tunnel, a few turns later they came upon a chest in the middle of a rectangular room. Jay nodded at Skip. No words were spoken between the two as they crossed the room carefully. There were puddles of lava on the ground they were careful to avoid.

Once they reached the chest Skip turned to Jay and pointed at the other, then himself. The unspoken question was clear: ‘You or me’. Jay held both of his hands in the air as if to say ‘not it’ and Skip nodded. 

As soon as Skip opened the chest they heard the grunt of what sounded like an angry pig, followed by heavy footsteps, rapidly approaching them. “Do I wanna know what that is?” Jay asked.

“Probably not.”

Skip quickly stuffed loot in his pockets (his pockets are admirably large), scooped some in his arms, turned to Jay and, “Let’s get out of here.”

Just then a huge figure charged into the room. It looked like a large man in leather clothes and a golden belt, but its head was that of a hog’s. And it was holding a large golden sword, ‘cause why not? “Other exit, OTHER EXIT!” Jay shouted as he started to flee for his life for the second time that day.

Skip swiftly followed him out of the other side of the room, jumping and side-stepping lava puddles, with the murder pig right behind them. The hallways twisted and turned, providing only one direction: deeper into the building. It got hotter as they neared the centre and they soon found out why. The last hallway opened up to a massive room full of lava-falls, bridges crossing between hallways, and a huge pool of lava with a small golden island on the ground below. “JUMP!!” Skip screamed at him.

“JUMP WHERE?!”

Skip leaped diagonally onto a bridge far below them, “HURRY UP!”

Jay backed up, “I’M NOT JUMPING THAT!”

“JAYMOJI IF YOU DON’T JUMP IN THE NEXT FEW SECONDS, YOU’RE GONNA GET FUCKING SKEWARD!!”

Jay jumped, screaming as he fell. Ouch that landing hurt, but at least he landed on his feet. “MOVE!” Skip shouted at him.

Jay looked behind him and saw 4 piglins. Great. He ran. He and Skip were about to cross the bridge when something whizzed past his face. An arrow, he realized as he regained footing. 

Because of course the angry pig people of death can shoot us.

Jay rounded the corner into the hallway first, and came face to face with another angry pig person of death. He didn’t think, he just slammed one of the obsidian blocks he was STILL holding on its head. The beast squealed in agony and staggered back, letting him and Skip pass. “NICE ONE!” Skip called to Jay, still running.

“THANKS, I LOST THE ROCK THOUGH!”

“JUST FOCUS ON STAYING ALIVE!”

And maybe Jay would have if he had been paying attention. But no, he had run full throttle right out of a window he didn’t know was there. By the time he realised what was happening, the only thing beneath his feet was air.

Skip screamed his friend’s name as he fell, and skidded to a halt, desperate not to meet the same fate Jay had. Breathing hard He abandoned the loot he carried and rushed to the window (it was quite large) and stared down “Jay?”

Jay stared up at him, eyes wide. He was hanging from the side of the wall. He wasn’t holding onto anything, his hand was just…. Stuck to the side of it.”I- I lost the other- the other block.” 

Skip blinked, “How. The FUCK are you DOING that?!”

“Help me up.” Jay reached up with his free hand.

Skip leaned far out of the window and hauled the man up. With one last heave, he dragged Jay through and they both collapsed. Skip turned his head to his companion, “Don’t. EVER. Do that. EVER. Again. You got me?”

“Oh you won’t have to worry about that.”

An angry grunt reminded them of their situation. They both leapt to their feet, Skip grabbed the loot he dropped, and they bolted. They fled through corridors, running like their lives depended on it, ‘cause it did.

Chapter Text

Jaymoji and Skip had been walking for hours. Actual hours, it wasn’t an exaggeration this time. They were hot, tired, bruised, battered, miserable, and traumatised. And they laughed. They had knocked on death’s door twice, and bolted before they were caught. So of course they were happy, with high spirits, unshakeable courage, and a fair share of treasure, they marched onward with their heads held high, and no idea if they were even going in the right direction.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“My fault, how the hell is this MY fault!?” Sand seethed.

“You’re the one who suggested leaving them behind in the first place!” Branzy retorted angrily.

“Guys! Blaming each other will help nobody!” Fail stepped in.

The three of them were back at the portal (still in the nether) and Branzy and Sand had been arguing there for the past half hour. Rek had gone back to the overworld to check if Skip and Jay had returned there, so he wasn’t here to stop them from fighting, and they wouldn’t listen to Fail!

“I’m sorry!” Branzy vented, “I’m just worried!”

“I know,” Fail breathed, “We all are.”

A whirr of the portal signaled Rek’s arrival. “Find them?” Branzy asked hopefully.

Rek shook his head. Their faces fell. Sand huffed, “what now.”

“I mean we could go back to the fortress in case they made their way back?” Fail offered.

“Maybe they just fell into lava.” Branzy blurted out.

“What, who fell into lava??”

Four people whipped around to see “JAY!! SKIP!!”

Jay grinned at them, “You guys really have that little faith in us!?” before he and Skip were tackled to the ground by an over-excited squealing bunch of people.

“Ouch, careful guys! We’re already bruised enough!” Skip exclaimed.

“Yeah guys, this is too much- Ouch Rek your horns!”

Rek sheepishly apologised and they stood up, giving Skip and Jay some room to breathe. The two recollected their loot from the ground (which Skip had ended up splitting with Jay), and turned back to their friends. “You get the blaze powder or what?” Jay asked.

“Yeah we got it,” Fail looked the pair over, “What happened to you guys?”

They both gave the same ‘you tell them’ look to the other. Skip shook his head and looked back to the group, “We just went on a little adventure.”

Jay nodded, “Got some good stuff too.”

Sand crossed his arms, “Aren’t you going to apologise?”

Skip tilted his head, “For what?”

“Worrying us half to death!”

“Naw.”

Jay laughed, “Ok, I’m burning up, can we go back to the over world please?”

Rek nodded, “Yeah, let’s go. It’s almost sundown back there anyway.”

Branzy yawned, “Sweet sleep, here we come!”

Sand prodded Jay in the chest, “And you! Don’t wake me up in the morning.”

“Yeah.” Fail smirked, “We gotta see who the latest sleeper of us is.”

“My money’s on Skip.” Branzy jumped in.

“Hey! I think it’ll be Branzy!” Skip claimed indignantly.

“Skip.” Jay agreed.

Rek shook his head, “Definitely Branzy.”

“Shut up and find out.” Sand interrupted. “But it’s totally gonna be me.”

“Nah, I’d outdo you I think.” Fail said as they started to walk through the portal.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rek was the first to wake again, he waited outside for the others and ended up having to stop an impatient Jay from banging on everyone’s doors again. Surprisingly next was Skip, who trudged groggily out of his house. He gave Rek a high five as Jay grumbled about the impossible. 

It took a bit longer, but Sand woke up next. He walked out and looked mildly surprised to see only three people up. “Mornin’ Sand!” Skip greeted him. “Wanna go collect berries with me?” Sand opened his mouth to decline but Skip spoke again, “You’re the only one with a bundle, ‘cause Fail is still asleep.” 

“Fineeeee.” Sand seemed to deflate. Skip frowned

Why does this guy dislike me so much?

Plastering on a smile anyway, Skip linked arms with Sand, “alright then! Let’s go!”

“Don’t go gettin’ into trouble you two!” Jay called.

“You know me!” Skip responded, dragging Sand away.

Jay sighed, crossing his legs and sitting down, he watched them leave. “If they get into trouble…. You’re dealing with it.”

“Hey!” Rek objected, “Why me?”

Jay shrugged, “I’m still tired.”

“What did you and Skip get up to yesterday?”

Jay smirked, “You’ll never know.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Soooooo should we wake him?” Branzy asked.

Five of the four were now up, they’d been up for a while. So long in fact they had gotten multiple things done. Branzy had woken before Sand and Skip came back. They had both looked agitated, but they didn’t talk about whatever was bugging them as they ate a breakfast of berries (Sure to save some for Fail).

Afterward they went to check on the farm Fail and Rek had planted earlier, Jay stayed behind incase Fail woke up. To the four’s surprise not only had the plants begun to grow, They were finished growing into tall wheat stalks with ripe golden ears. Excited about the discovery of what the enchanted hoe could do, they rushed back to tell Jay. In high spirits they amateurly harvested the wheat with two swords (one golden the other iron) and an axe.

Now they were just sitting in a circle in the middle of the village waiting. “I mean I know we agreed on no waking, but it’s almost midday now and he’s still not up.” Skip stated.

Sand glared at him, “I think we should let him sleep.”

Skip stood up abruptly, he was furious with Sand from the argument they had while collecting berries. He tried carefully not to show it, but it was hard not to snap at him in front of everyone. “I’m gonna go get a drink of water, let me know if he wakes.” He forced a cheerful smile and happy voice.

“Ok,” Branzy cheerfully replied, “Be careful!”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skip was upset. He sat by the stream alone and wondered how to make the anger go away. Ever since he had first woken up here he had noticed three things. 1. He was sad. He was very sad and didn’t know why. 2. He had to try to be happy, he had to do his best to make other people smile. 3. His back hurt. It hadn’t hurt too much at first, just a dull throb. The night he slept however, he found he couldn’t sleep on his back without random spikes of pain. He had also found out his back started to hurt a lot when he was upset, which is why he excused himself from the others.

Sand’s question from their argument still stuck in his mind ‘why do you have to bother me so much. I just don’t wanna talk to you’. That was fine. Sand was just introverted! But he’d seen the way he talked with Rek, he’d even cracked a joke with Jay. So why did he seem to hate Skip?

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sand didn’t hate Skip, he really didn’t. Something about him did irk him a bit though. Maybe it was how his constant Happy-Go-Lucky attitude made him careless about his own health and safety. Maybe it was because he was constantly trying to befriend Sand. Something felt off about him, like he was hiding something. And Sand didn’t like seeing the mask of a person.

So Sand came up with a plan. Tick him off. Make him mad. Ok, so maybe it wasn’t the best plan, but anger usually shows a person’s true colors. If someone was angry but still cared, they really did care at heart. Sometimes the facade can crack under anger though, and Sand was gonna find out if Skip is really this perfectly happy guy, or if he just wanted something.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Surely we wake him up now.” Jay drawled.

“Here, let me go get Skip first,” Rek stood up, “and then we can wake him up.”

“Take your time!” Sand called to him. 

“Will do!”

Rek found Skip sitting by the water with a thousand yard stare. “You good bro?”

Skip smiled, “Just chillin’.”

“We’re gonna wake Fail up if you wanna come?”

“Yeah sure.” Skip heaved himself to his feet.

Rek frowned, “You alright?”

Skip smirked at him, “Always.”

Rek laughed and patted him on the back, “Alright then let’s go!” he missed the way Skip flinched at the contact.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Yup,” Branzy murmured, peeking through a crack in Fail’s wall, “He’s still in there.”

Jay cracked his knuckles, “May I?”

Skip gave him a thumbs up. Jay positioned himself at the door, fist poised to strike. The others backed up a bit, and Jay slammed his fist on the door HARD, multiple times. As the banging began, he shouted at the top of his lungs, “FAILBOAT WAKE UP RIGHT THIS INSTANT, YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO SLEEP THE WHOLE DAY AWAY!!!!”

The noise had everyone covering their ears, and it only stopped once Fail threw open the door, blanket still wrapped around him, and tackled Jay. Jay wheezed as he hit the ground, and Rek and Sand rushed forward to drag Fail off of him. “I THOUGHT WE WEREN’T GOING TO WAKE PEOPLE UP THIS MORNING!!” Fail yelled as he struggled against Rek and Sand.

“GOOD THING IT’S NOT MORNING ANYMORE THEN HUH!?” Jay scrambled to his feet.

“Get’m Fail!!”

“Yeah, Show him who's boss!!” Skip and Branzy cheered from the sidelines.

“How about we don’t do any of that,” Rek advised, “and we can get Fail something to eat.”

Fail stopped struggling, “Food?”

Sand nodded, “We saved you some berries,” and handed Fail his bundle.

“Sweet! Thanks guys!”

Branzy leaned over to whisper to Skip, “Who’d you think would’ve won?”

“Definitely Fail,” Skip whispered back, “He was sleep deprived and hangry.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fail had meandered away from the others to enjoy some quiet peace. It was cool (for a desert) out, and there was a nice breeze. He walked wherever his feet took him, which he soon found out was a wide river in a forest part of the island. It was a different one from the one he found previously. 

He stared into his reflection, looking at the scars on his neck. They were perfectly symmetrical, and very faint, almost unnoticeable at first glance. Fail cupped some water into his hand and splashed it onto his face and neck. It felt SO nice, it was cold and refreshing, and comforted him instantly.

He wiped the water from his eyes, looked back into his reflection- and lept back screaming! All comfort from earlier had vanished as his heart raced. Slowly he crept back to the water to confirm what he had seen. Yup. Thin moist, almost scaly, paper-like golden flaps had protruded from the scars on  his neck when he splashed water on them. He ran a finger gently on the delicate structures. They were slowly receding back into his neck as it dried.

He turned around shakily

Ok, this is not ok. Oh no, what's wrong with me?

“What the hell just happened?” he muttered out loud.

Chapter Text

To say Fail was freaking out was putting it lightly. He was full on racing through the desert, running as fast as he physically could, the world turning into a blur around him. Whether from his speed or panic he didn’t know. He ran and ran, he had no idea what had just happened, but he was terrified.

The village! Fail approached rapidly, and the figures of his friends came into view. They seemed to be just hanging around, until one of them turned and caught sight of him running. Branzy’s eyes widened, “OH! Fail, are you OK?!”

The rest stared at him as Fail skidded to a halt in the middle of them. They were asking him questions, but he couldn’t hear over the pounding of his heart, and his gasping breaths.

Jay grabbed him by the shoulders, “What’s going on Fail?”

“I…. I grew, uh, Something! And I don’t know what…. It is-was?”

Sand blinked, “huh?”

Skip tilted his head, “yeah, what?”

Failboat gestured frantically to his neck, “These, fins! Fungus! I don’t know!!!”

“I need you to calm down-” 

Fail interrupted Jay, “I AM CALM!” and lunged for Rek, grabbing his shirt, “I need water! NOW!”

Rek yelped, “Ok ok! Sand, can you go get him some water please?”

Sand nodded, “Yeah I’ll be right back.”

Branzy stepped forward, “What happened Fail?” He asked gently.

“I grew things.” Fail deadpanned.

Skip clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. Jay elbowed him, letting a snort escape. “Ok,” Fail sighed, “I know how that sounds, but it’s true.”

“Ok,” Rek nodded slowly, “Grew ‘things’ how exactly?”

“Well. Ok. So, it’s hard to explain, but. Um. The scars on my neck grew…. Uh, feathers? Paper? I’m not sure.”

Branzy inspected them, “I don’t see anything.”

“Well, not anymore, I need water!!”

“Ok, ok.” Jay soothed, “We’ll get you water.”

“Not for me- well- yes for me, it’s ARGH!” Fail stamped his foot in frustration.

“I’m Back!” Sand called, and handed over a bundle, breathing heavily. 

“Aww yes!!” Fail held up the bag triumphantly- and dumped it straight on his head. 

Rek hopped back to avoid getting splashed. “Oh wow!” Skip breathed.

Everyone (but Fail) saw the golden scaly structures emerge from the scars. Immediately Sand had the answer pop into his head, “You’re a fish hybrid!” he announced.

Fail shook his hair out, “I am?”

Sand nodded, “Yep!’ he declared, “Probably one of the following : Golden Dorado, Golden Mahseer, Goldfish, Koi, Golden Trout, or Golden Arowana. The fastest of these is-”

“Ok dictionary that’s good thank you.” Skip cut him off. “That’s so cool bro!” he told Fail.

Branzy stepped forward, “May I feel them please?”

Rek stepped on his foot, but Fail nodded, still lost in thought, “Sure.”

“Whoah…”

They all watched in amazement as they saw the gills retract back into Fail’s neck. “Does it hurt?” Rek asked him.

“No, but it feels a bit tingly.”

“Does this mean you can breathe underwater?” Jay questioned.

“Well I haven’t exactly been trying to find out, so how would I know?”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the others left for a stream to test Fail’s gills out. Skip tapped Rek’s shoulder. “Hey man, can I borrow your pickaxe?”

“Yeah sure.” Rek handed it over, “Can I ask what for?”

“I’m gonna build a secret bunker.”

Rek chuckled, “Good luck with that!”

“I don’t need luck, I just need patience. Thanks man.”

“No problem.” And Rek ran to catch up with the others.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fail surfaced from the water, “Yep! I can breathe!” 

Everyone watching cheered. “Also, I got these while under!” and Fail held up webbed hands.

“That’s amazing!

“I bet you can swim really fast.”

Fail hoisted himself out of the water, “No wonder I did so bad in the nether, It’s the literal opposite of my natural habitat!”

He threw his dripping arms around Jay and Branzy. They exclaimed in surprise and pushed him away. Fail and Rek laughed. “Alright.” Jay stood up.

“I am so hungry, I might actually starve if I don’t eat in the next, like, ten minutes.” 

“What are you gonna eat?” Sand asked him.

“This!” and he uprooted an underwater leafy stem.

“What is that?”

“It’s a water chestnut!” Jay showed them the bulb on the other end. “Perfectly edible and-” he bit into it, “Well, it doesn’t suck.”

Branzy excitedly pulled up a stem. “Uh,” Jay shook his head, “That’s just a weed.”

“Damn.”

Jay pulled up another water chestnut and handed it to him, “There you go buddy.”

Branzy beamed, “Thanks man!”

Sand turned to Rek, “Mind if we try to make bread with that wheat?”

Rek blinked, “Why are you asking me?”

He shrugged, “You’re kinda the unofficial leader of us.”

Fail looked at Sand, “How are we gonna make bread?”

“Trial and error.”

Jay grinned, “Sounds like a plan.”

Branzy tapped Jay on the shoulder, “Mind getting more of these water nuts? I want to bring Skip some”

Jay nodded and dutifully collected more. Sand handed him his bundle. “Alright!” Fail punched the air, “Let’s go make cake!”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skip had dug a decent hole by now below a cactus. He had dug a huge pit, then cut some wood from nearby trees with his axe, and placed them as a roof. After that he covered the wood back up with sand, and it was unnoticeable.

A cactus marked where a trap door entrance was buried. And he had even managed to tie sticks together with some rope from the chest to make ladders so he could get out.

Skip was pretty proud of this. Now he just needed a light source, and some hidden holes for air to come in. He had also moved the chest from his house into the base, where he put the loot from the bastion.
He climbed back out of his base, and re-covered the trap door with sand. 

Later I’ll find a way to make the trap door blend into the sand, so I don’t have to cover it every time.

He made his way back slowly to the village, enjoying the heat. Branzy was the first to spot him approaching, and ran to meet him. “Hey!” Branzy greeted, out of breath. “We tested Fail’s gills, he can breathe underwater!”

Skip grinned, “That’s great!”

Branzy nodded, then slung his arm around Skip’s shoulders, staring at the rest of the group in the distance. “I guess we’re the only normal one’s here huh?”

Skip smiled, refusing to let that sadden him, “I don’t know, I’ll bet your purple eyes have something to do with your hybrid identity.”

Branzy felt his eyelids, “Really? Hmm, maybe you're right!” he said excitedly, “Maybe I am a hybrid!”

Skip forced a smirk, “Yup, I’m always right.”

Branzy shoved him, laughing, “Oh shut up!”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Baking was tedious, hard, and surprisingly dangerous. They had moved Rek’s furnace outside, which turned out to be a smart move, seeing as it caught fire twice. Skip and Rek had shaken out the seeds, after that Branzy and Jay had crushed them. Fail brought back water as Sand hollowed out some wood for a make-shift bowl. 

Mixing the water and…. flour? They threw it into the furnace and watched as it burned. Trying again adding more water, it still burned. Finally Fail said “Screw it,” and threw in some crushed berries, and Jay (who’d gone foraging) brought back some sugar cane, which they squeezed some juice from and mixed it all together.

They successfully made flat, sweet, and not absolutely horrible bread. Kinda. As they crunched the fruits of their labor and made small talk, the topic of the desert pyramid Sand and Skip found came up.

“We could just, y’know, go for it.” Jay offered.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Sand objected.

Skip couldn’t help it, “Of course you don’t coward.” me muttered under his breath.

Only Sand heard him. He turned to Skip slowly with fire in his eyes, “What. Did. You. Just. Say. To. Me?” his voice dangerously low.

Skip adopted an easy smile, “Nothin’! I just wanna go to the pyramid!”

“Vote? Branzy asked.

4 yes      2 no

Jay and Skip high-fived. Fail cheered as Branzy shouted in triumph, “Alright! Let’s Go!”

Sand and Rek looked at eachother, then at the slowly lowering sun. “Are you sure you guys don’t want to wait for morning?” Rek tried.

“Nope!” Jay wiggled a finger at him, “We already voted, we’re goin’ now!”

Chapter Text

Five brave souls and Branzy ventured into the desert pyramid. It was almost sunset outside, so it was at least cool. On the inside however, it was still hot and stuffy. Jay fanned his face. Sand glared at thin air like it personally annoyed him. Fail tried not to pant. At least in the nether it had been lighter and open, here it was dark and dusty, like the air they breathed was dirty somehow.

Rek held up a stick that he lit the end of on fire with Sand’s flint and steel. Branzy crept forward to inspect the pillars. They were carved in beautifully intricate designs, that he ran his finger along. Jay was the first to reach the center, and he nudged Rek, “You see that middle spot?”

“Mm hm.”

“Use your pickaxe to break it.”

“What! Why?”

“I dunno, for fun?”

Fail snatched the pick from Rek’s back and slammed it down on the center of the ground with full force. He stared through the small hole he’d made, “What if we just all jumped on this cracked part to make it crumble faster?”

The group stared at him. Skip leaned over to Branzy and whispered just loud enough for him to hear, “Not the sharpest cheese in the fridge is he?”

Branzy snorted with laughter, then leaned in to jokingly whisper back to Skip, “Wanna go jump on the center for fun?”

Skip grinned, “Thought you’d never ask!”

Branzy realized his mistake as soon as Skip grabbed his hand. He changed his mind when the man dragged him at an insane speed toward the cracked middle of the room, and he screamed as Skip jumped and slammed his feet down on the crumbling ground. “GERONIMO!”

The others shouted in horror as the ground crumbled beneath the feet of an ecstatic Skip and a terrified Branzy. Jay and Rek lunged to grab them, barely missing their disappearing hands, as Fail leapt backward to avoid falling as well. Sand stood shell-shocked for a brief moment, before joining the other three in crowding the edge of a much larger hole while shouting down it.

Branzy stood up stiffly with a groan, it hadn’t been too far of a fall, but his hands still shook from fear. Skip popped up beside him like he hadn’t almost just jumped to his death. For a second Branzy was caught between three worlds. 

He wanted to be angry at Skip for giving him a heart attack, but he also wanted to kick himself for being an idiot and offering it in the first place. But he also was admiring Skip’s bravery of danger and the unknown, he wished for a second that he had those guts.

He sighed and looked around the room they were in, Skip answering their friends' calling voices with a reassurance that they were ok. It was a small room that opened up after the drop, with four chests in the middle of each side. No light, no furniture, no way out. He nudged Skip with his foot and pointed to the chest, “You gonna look in those?”

Skip squinted at the direction he was pointing, “Look in what?”

Branzy frowned, “You don’t see it?”

“I can’t see shit.”

“Huh,” Branzy shrugged, “Weird. There are four chests, one for each wall.”

“Ohhh, cool!” Skip walked with hands outstretched like a blind man, searching for a wall.

Branzy turned to look up, “I hate to interrupt Sand shouting eloquent profanities at us, but can you guys go get some rope or something? It’s really cramped down here.”

“CAN YOU STOP FALLING IN HOLES BRANZY!!!” Rek shouted down to him.

“Sorry, I can’t help it! It’s just my bad habit I suppose.”

Skip tapped him on the shoulder, making him yelp in surprise, “Sorry man, come look in these chests!”

He dragged Branzy to a chest, reaching his hand around to find it again, and opened it, “I can barely see anything unless I bring it up close, but look!” 

Branzy ran a hand along the smooth metal of some chunk Skip gave him, “Is this….?”

“Iron. Isn’t that cool?”

“I mean, it’s just iron….”

Skip’s mouth fell open, “Just Iron?! We can use this to make all kinds of things!”

“Do you know metal working?”

“No, but it can’t be too hard!”

Branzy face-palmed, or, he tried but forgot he still had the iron ingot in his hand, and hit his head with the metal. “OWWW!”

Skip bit his lip to keep from giggling, “Oh jeez, you good man?”

“THAT HURT!”

“I mean, why’d you do that?”

“I DIDN’T TRY!!!”

“YOU GUYS ALRIGHT DOWN THERE?!?!” Fail called down.

Skip gave a thumbs up no-one could see, “You bet! Well, Branzy might have a concussion I don’t know.”

“WHAT?!?! OK JUST, UM, DON’T PANIC!!! WE’LL BE RIGHT DOWN TO BRING YOU UP!!!”

Skip covered his ears, “Wow, who’s the one panicking here?” he muttered to Branzy, who laughed while still rubbing his forehead.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jay and Rek were back at the village, searching Skip’s house, Jay threw his arms up in defeated exasperation, ”Skip was the one with the rope right? ‘Cause it’s not here.”

Rek groaned, “He probably put it in his secret base… His axe isn’t here either.”

Jay looked at him questioningly, “Secret base?”

Rek nodded, “He built a secret base somewhere earlier.”

Jay’s hair flicked in growing worry, “Ok, what do we do then?”

“Well, last time Branzy got stuck in a hole, I got a decently sturdy vine to help him climb out, so we could go to the jungle part of the island, and get one of those.”

“Sounds like a plan. Y’know I wanna say Skip should really be more careful, but I can’t exactly talk since I went with him into that pig castle of doom.”

“Pig castle of doom, what’s that?”

“Oh, uh, nothin’ let’s go get that vine.”

“I’m so asking you about the pig castle later, but yeah, let’s go.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sand was 3 steps ahead of everyone else, already heading back to the pyramid with a thick vine. It was almost completely dark, and he had just entered the desert when he heard a moan from the way he came.

Sand turned around slowly. Behind him, a zombie staggered closer, and information popped into his head. He could outrun a zombie, he just needed to get out of its short range of sight so it would give up. He shrugged and ran. 

It was easier than he thought. He should have been panicking, but a cool calm washed over him in the face of danger. Pre-calculated, well thought-out plans for getting rid of zombies, in both hordes and strays, in all types of terrains and situations bloomed in his mind's eye. Even though only a single one followed him now, he knew exactly what to do if there were ever any more.

A smile grew on his face, he was safe now, he’d easily outrun it. But he was much more comfortable in his newly recovered knowledge, he felt better, knowing he could outwit his problems when faced with them. His smile turned to a grin as he sped toward the pyramid, he now knew what he was good at, and that was enough for him.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rek’s sword was in his hands, slicing through the zombie before he even knew what was going on. The monster had come out of nowhere it seemed like, and he’d just reacted without thinking. Jay stared up at him in shock, “How- how’d you do that?”

“I… don’t know.” Rek shook his head to clear it, “We should keep going, there might be more of them lurking around here.”

Jay nodded a little shakily, “Yeah, yeah you’re right, let’s go.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rek and Jay were surprised (and irritated) when they came into the pyramid with a vine, only to find Skip Fail and Sand had just finished hauling Branzy out. Branzy shook his head mockingly and teased them, “Wow guys, we could’ve died down there while you were lollygagging. Good thing Sand was here, huh Skip?”

Skip immediately jumped on board, “Oh yeah, it was so nice to get out of there so soon, anything could’ve happened!” he threw his arm around Sand’s shoulders, “Thank the stars someone around here doesn’t waste time!”

Jay smacked the back of Skip’s head. Rek kicked Branzy’s shins. Fail giggled and Sand rolled his eyes, pushing Skip away from him. “Are we going back to our houses yet? There are mobs starting to come out.” Sand asked.

Rek nodded, “Yeah, Jay and I saw them too.”

Skip tilted his head and Branzy blinked, “Mobs?”

“Mm hm, mobs.” Jay stated wisely.

“Speaking of….” Sand calmly pointed at the skeleton that had just entered the pyramid, “Maybe now is a good time to leave?” as the skeleton drew back its bow.

It shot. They scattered. Fail and Skip tried to leap behind the same pillar, and smashed into each other. Rek pulled out his sword as Sand also ducked behind a pillar. Skip rolled from the floor, just in time to not get shot. Jay ran across the room and pulled Fail up before he got skewered. Branzy pressed against a corner, trying to fade from existence.

Rek sliced clean through the bones of their attacker, but more skeletons and zombies poured inside after. Sand dragged Rek back before he mindlessly charged into battle. Chaos erupted with arrows flying through the air, and zombies groans sounded in their ears. Jay looked at the hole in the center of the room, “Guys! I just got an idea!”

“What is it?!” Rek shouted back to him, as he fended off a zombie from behind a pillar.

“Jump in the hole!”

“What?!”

“Jump in the hole!!!”

“Are you crazy?!”

“YES!” and Jay grasped Fail by the collar of his shirt, dragging him towards the hole.

Fail desperately tried to escape Jay’s iron grasp, “AW HELL NO! I’D RATHER BE SHOT! I’M NOT GOIN’ IN NO INFESTED PIT!”

Jay dove into the hole, dragging a screaming and swearing Failboat with him. Rek nodded at Sand, “That’s our best option right now.” Sand nodded back and they both made a dash for the hole.

Skip scrambled in his pocket, pulling out TNT and a flint and steel. Branzy’s jaw dropped, “No, no no, bad idea. BAD IDEA!”

“Get in the hole!”

Branzy shook his head, “YOU’RE GONNA BLOW EVERYBODY UP!”

“GET IN THE FUCKING HOLE BRANZYCRAFT!!!”

Now, as Branzy had come to figure out, he was not a brave man. In the split second he saw Skip light the TNT, he weighed his options. He could jump down the hole, and possibly break his neck, land on one of his friends, or be stuck down there when the mobs pour in.

He could stay up here and get either blown up by Skip, shot by a skeleton, or ripped apart by a zombie. Fear gnawed at Branzy as time seemed to slow. The fuse was lit, and Skip prepared to throw. Branzy realized what he was about to do was stupid and dangerous. He couldn’t help but feel he had to do something though.

So Branzy sprinted forward.

Skip threw the lit TNT into the heart of the approaching storm of mobs. Branzy tackled him the instant it was out of his hands. An arrow flew past their heads that would’ve hit them if Branzy had been a second slower. The two plummeted down the hole, their momentum crashing them into the wall hard as they fell.

They hit the ground with a thud, and immediately the rest of the group swarmed around them in the dark. A massive explosion overhead drowned out their concerned words, and soon large wet chunks of things they didn’t want to identify began to rain down into the hole.

Both Branzy and Skip were unconscious, having hit their heads on the wall. Fail and Jay shook them trying to wake them up, while Rek and Sand covered their heads from falling debris. Eventually the world grew quiet as everything calmed down. Fail broke the silence with a shaky murmur, “What now?”

Jay straightened, “They’re both alive, just knocked out.”

“What blew up? And how?” Sand asked.

Jay shrugged, “I’ve got no idea, but I’m glad it did.”

Rek looked up, “We need to get them out. All of us actually, we’re sitting ducks down here.”

Fail’s voice trembled, “How? We don’t have our ropes anymore.”

Jay thought back to the bastion, how when he fell from the wall, he caught himself. His hair flicked as an idea sparked in his head. “Guys, I have an idea.”

Fail looked in his direction warily, “Last time you had an idea, you dragged me down this hell hole.”

“And you’re alive aren’t you? Which, you’re welcome by the way.”

Sand snorted, and Rek spoke up, “Thank you Jay.”

Jay gave a dramatic bow no one could see, and attempted to climb up the wall. It worked better than he thought, he could feel his fingers almost suction against the rock as he hauled himself up with surprising upper body strength. The others looked at him, not really seeing in the dark. “What are you doing?” Rek asked.

“And how are you doing it?” Fail added.

Jay ignored them, concentrating on unsticking his fingers to move further up. Just a few more pulls… There! He hauled himself up and out. The others stared up at the dark shape, stunned. Jay searched the floor for the vine. The ground was littered with bones and flesh, he tried not to puke as his eyes found the vine.

Thankfully, it was in one piece, and he pulled it out from under a pile of bones with ease. Creeping back to the edge of the hole, he tossed down the vine, which promptly smacked Fail in the face. “Oh, shit! My eye!”

“Sorry!” Jay called down, “Just hurry and get up here, before more trouble arrives.”

Fail went first, dragging Branzy by the foot, and still muttering something about his eye. Sand and Rek tried to make sure Branzy’s head didn’t hit the wall as he was dragged up. Then they eyed each other. Sand held up his hands in rock-paper-scissors preparation. They dueled. Sand won. He gestured to the vine, “You first, my good sir.”

Rek sighed, grabbing Skip’s arm, and began the climb. Sand came up last, looking mighty pleased with himself, and cheerily asked, “Alrighty, everyone ready to go?”

“Yep!” Jay beamed.

Fail and Rek shared a look, “You guys don’t have to carry dead-weight, so you can give us a breather.”

Jay yawned, “Welp, we don’t want to have another run-in with mobs, and I’m tired soooo, let’s go!”

Him and Sand waltzed out, Fail complaining close behind. Rek slung Skip over his shoulder like a backpack and followed into the cold desert night.

Chapter Text

Branzy woke up with a major headache (like his skull was being split in two), which, honestly, felt about right considering the last thing he remembered was smashing head-first into a rock wall — and then falling into a pit like a heroic idiot . Welp, that’s what he got for being brave.

He dragged himself out of bed. Someone must have put him back here. He glanced around his house blearily. Is it his house? ...Oh well, no one else can claim it, so it is now.

Stumbling to the door on legs that felt like overcooked noodles, he opened it, stepping outside- and immediately face-planted onto the ground. Wonderful!

He groaned, flopping dramatically to his back. He had forgotten about the slight drop at the doorway. He briefly considered staying there forever, just baking under the sweltering desert sun .

I should probably pick myself up off the ground now

Branzy forced his aching limbs to cooperate, standing on shaky legs. It looked like early morning, the sun already glaring down like an angry parent. His friends were nowhere in sight.
He wandered into the center of the village. No one. Approaching a house, he peeked through a hole in the wall.

Jay!  Snoring, mouth open and drooling slightly, it was a beautiful sight. A devious grin spread across Branzy’s face. He snuck over to Fail’s house, knowing he’d be hard to wake up, even if Branzy tried . He tiptoed inside, rifled around the dark corner and triumphantly found what he was looking for: Fail’s bucket.

Object acquired.

He slunk back outside, giddy with mischief. Today might actually be a good one after all.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaymoji was not happy.  Still soaking wet, he stormed out of the house, dragging a hysterically laughing Branzy by the neck. Jay’s furious shouting in the village center managed to wake everyone else up too, which meant now everyone was in a bad mood.
Except Branzy, who was still cackling like a villain, and Skip, who was just... confused. 

Fail yawned, "Why are you two fighting? It's too early for whatever this is."

Sand stretched and blinked at Jay. "And why are you wet?"

"Those answers are connected," Jay growled.

Skip leaned sideways toward Rek. "What's going on?"

Rek turned to look at him, eyes full of weary sympathy, and whispered back, "Branzy probably did something stupid to Jay. How’s your head?"

"S'alright, I suppose," Skip mumbled, shielding his throbbing eyes from the sun. 

Fail stepped between Jay and Branzy as Jay opened his mouth again to unleash another torrent of anger. He raised his hands peacefully. "Guys, calm down. Cut him some slack, Jay; Branzy’s probably got a concussion."

"Is that why I can’t stand up straight?" Branzy asked, wobbling dramatically.

Sand nodded, stepping closer to inspect Branzy's pupils. "Probably. Your eyes still look dilated."

Branzy leaned in closer. Sand leaned away. Branzy took another step. Sand backed up, alarmed. Branzy placed both hands firmly on Sand’s shoulders, holding him hostage, and squinted at him.

Sand froze. "Wh-what are y-you doing?"

Branzy frowned in intense concentration. "Why do you have two faces?"

Jay and Fail collapsed laughing. Rek grinned, "Yep. Definitely concussed!"

Sand yelped and scrambled away, face burning red. "I-uh-um-no! Do you need to lay down? You should lay down. Immediately. Like, right now."

Skip tilted his head. "Why is Sand acting weird?"

Sand, flustered more than they’d ever seen before, muttered, "He startled me, okay?"

Rek grabbed Branzy’s arm, half-laughing, half-groaning. "Alright, buddy. Time to get you back to bed. Jay, can you take Skip back too?"

Jay sighed dramatically, "If only. Sadly, I lost his receipt years ago."

Rek laughed again, "That’s too bad! oh well."

Branzy, unwilling to cooperate, dragged his feet stubbornly. "C'mon Branzy! You’re making this unnecessarily difficult" Rek pleaded.

"Oh wow, really?! Thanks man! I love when my hard work is appreciated!"

"Please Branzy sto—OUCH!" Branzy kicked him in the shin.

Rek gave up being gentle and yanked Branzy with full force toward the houses, grumbling, while Branzy howled in evil triumph.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The morning dragged on under the blistering sun. Everyone was tired, cranky, and sunburned in varying degrees. Skip refused to go back to his house. Sand had given up trying to convince him to go to bed after all of three seconds. He had tripped Rek when he’d tried to drag Skip, climbed a building to avoid Jay, and now sat cross-legged in the sand while Fail tried to reason with him.

"Come on Skip," Fail pinched the bridge of his nose, "Your head will hurt less if you sleep."

"I don’t wanna!" Skip complained.

"You’re making this harder for everyone!"

Skip shrugged, unbothered. "I wasn’t bothering anyone until you started pestering me."

Jay nudged Rek. "They aren’t going to get anywhere any time soon, so! Wanna come forage with me? Maybe we can find something edible before we all starve."

Rek lit up. "Yes! You good here with these two Sand?” he called over to the blue man.

Sand gave a thumbs up, “Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on them, don’t worry.”

 "Mind if we borrow your bundle?" Jay asked him.

Sand chucked said item at Jay without looking. "Good luck. Bring back something tasty!"

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The jungle buzzed with life. Birds screeched overhead, vines dangled menacingly from crooked trees, and the bugs .

Jay led the way with easy confidence, a far cry from the worrying man trailing behind him. Jay pretended not to notice Rek’s constantly darting eyes and tense posture as he sliced through brush with a casual swing of his golden sword which he insisted on bringing 

Jay bent to inspect a bush. Blueberries. Safe. He plucked a handful and stuffed them into the bundle.

"So," he said casually, "How are you holding up?"

Rek shrugged, “Pretty well, I have this nagging feeling I need to get home and do something, but I don’t know what, and it’s driving me insane.”

Jay nodded, “I’m really excited to go to the end and get my memories back. I’ve got the feeling I’m a very interesting person.”

Rek smirked, “You are.”

“What are you most excited in finding out about yourself?”

“My family mostly. I hope I have a brother. Or maybe a sister. I’m kinda nervous about finding out who I am though.”

“Oh really? Why?”

“... mostly my combat skills scare me, like, I really don’t wanna be a murderer, man.”

Jay shook his head, hair twitching, “Nah, you’re not. You’ve got a good heart, I can tell.”

Rek shifted, “But, like, what if that’s just because I don’t know my past? Maybe if I remember I won’t be a good person anymore.”

“Nope, I’m not buyin’ it. You’re way too nice.” and he bent down to inspect some mushrooms.

“Thanks.” Rek murmured, “That actually means a lot.”

Jay grinned, stuffing the mushrooms in the bundle, “That’s what I’m here for! You can talk to me any time.”

They walked quietly for a while after that, collecting garlic, avocados, bananas, coconuts, oranges, random berries, and somehow, yams and potatoes (Jay refused to explain how he knew where to dig).

"I’m worried about Skip," Jay admitted as they began their trek back.

Rek tilted his head. "Yeah?"

Jay sighed, "He keeps doing dangerous stuff, and like I said earlier, I know I’m not one to talk. But I can’t help but think he’s gonna get himself hurt or maybe even killed if he keeps running headfirst into danger"

Rek was silent for a bit, “Honestly? I think he’s just really adventurous. And yeah, I think he’ll get hurt by that too, but I also think we might need that later. Like, we’re realistically never going to make it to the end without taking a few risks, and he’s going to help keep us balanced with that. We’re just going to have to keep him balanced as well y’know?”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Jay said after some thought.

“I probably am.” he agreed emphatically.

Jay snorted, “I thought you were the humble one.”

“Eh, that’s no fun.”

“Agreed.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dinner was difficult to say the least. Sand chiseled a rock into a makeshift cauldron, Rek and Fail braved the caves for coal, and Jay led Skip into the jungle for firewood, which involved an alarming number of sharp sticks.

Cooking happened somehow, Jay chopped mushrooms and potatoes with a sword (because why not?) and stirred the bubbling mess with a stick.

 They realized too late they had no bowls, or spoons. Cue emergency woodcarving. Skip, Sand, and Jay managed acceptable spoons. Meanwhile Rek and Fail produced... abstract art. At least the stew was weirdly delicious.

When Branzy stumbled over, bleary-eyed, he was handed a spoon and a warning. "Blow on it," Sand instructed seriously. "Unless you want to lose your tongue."

Branzy immediately ignored the advice, took a scalding bite, and let out a strangled scream.

Sand shrugged, “Tried to warn ya!”

Jay smiled, “I’m just glad we don’t have to eat only berries of cursed bread.”

“Bread?!” Fail exclaimed, “That was freaking flavored cardboard at best.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Can we just agree on one thing?" Rek asked suddenly. Everyone turned to him, Jay elbowing Skip to get his attention. "Let’s never stay outside at night again."

Jay coughed, “I thought that went without saying.”

“Yep, nothin’s keepin’ me away from my beauty sleep.” Fail agreed.

“I mean, if you guys had listened to us from the beginning…” Sand drawled.

Skip flicked him, “Yeah yeah yeah, You always know what’s best, we got it.”

Branzy raised a hand. "But guys, I thought last night was very experimentally enriching- "

"You don’t get a vote," Fail interrupted, jabbing at him with a spoon.

"Wait, we’re voting?" Skip blinked.

"Okay!" Jay announced, grabbing Skip and Branzy by the arms. "Bedtime for the concussed!"

"Nooo! I just got up! And I’m still hungry!" Branzy wailed.

"Tough luck! Soup will be there in the morning, and don’t even think about arguing Skip!"

Fail turned to Sand and Rek, "More stew for us?"

Sand smirked. "You snooze, you lose."

Rek stood up with a yawn, “I think I’ll take the loss then, I’m so tired. Night guys!” he called, jogging back to his house.

"And then there were two."

"Shut up, Fail."

“Sand, Sand, Sand, live a little”

“... I’m going to bed.”

“Wait!”

“What?”

“Don’t leave me alone in the dark!”

“Then go back to your house dumbass.”

"Aww, c’mon Sand. You don’t want a sleepover?"

"No."

"Hmph . Fine. I’ll just sit here. Alone. In my dark, miserable prison of sadness."

"Goodnight, Fail."

"...It’s not as good of a night without a sleepover."

"Fail?"

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

“Ok… good night!”

“Mm, night.”

Fail stayed behind for a moment, staring into the starry sky. "Still would've been a great sleepover," he muttered.

Chapter Text

It was a wonderful day out, well it was sunset so it’s not quite day anymore. But still, there was a nice breeze, and a few clouds. Good time for a walk. Or it should have been.

Rek was just making his way back to the village when it happened. It’d been a long day, between harvesting new crops, exploring more woods, and arguing over random things with his friends. So after his horns got tangled in some vines in the jungle he was walking in, he decided to take the long way back to the village, in hopes of getting rid of that humiliating memory along the way. At least Branzy, Jay, or… well anyone really, wasn’t there to see it. He’d never live it down.

But that decision to take the long route made the sky dark by the time Rek got to the desert. He picked up the pace, not wanting to be some mob’s dinner. It didn’t matter.

He froze when he saw it, an indescribable fear crept up inside him, staring up at the dark figure.

It was unnaturally tall, with black mottled skin. Rek couldn’t move. His legs refused to work, when he locked eyes with the monster. Glowing purple eyes. Rek’s throat closed, his pulse raced. He blinked. And that thing unhinged its jaw and let out the most horrifying unearthly scream he’d ever heard.

Suddenly, he could move again. And he ran, the monster chasing after him, reaching out with abnormally long arms. Rek didn’t- couldn’t think straight. He couldn’t draw his sword, he could only run blindly in terror.

He sprinted across the desert, sand flying behind him. Blind with fear, he didn’t see the beast appear in front of him in a thin swirl of purple, he only felt the pain of its arm striking him in the chest. The force flung him backward and left him sprawled in the sand, only to have the monster slam a brutal blow to his arm- crack.

Deeply lost in pain, panic, and fear, Rek curled into a ball on the sand and wished it all away. Unfortunately the beast wasn’t that kind. Fortunately, someone else was. There was a rush of wind as something large swung through the air, followed by a squish, crunch, and an unholy shriek.

There was another swirl of purple particles, but Rek didn’t see, he kept his eyes tightly shut. Just like he didn’t see who was shaking his shoulders and calling his name. He couldn’t get rid the fear. He’d faced down mobs before, but this one was different.

“Rek? Rek, can you hear me? I’m gonna get you out of here, Ok?”

He didn’t respond, still curled in the sand, mind stuck on repeat of the monster’s screams. Someone lifted him off the ground with a grunt. “You’re a lot heavier than you look.”

And then he was moving, the person who was carrying him was clearly doing his best not to jostle him too much, and wasn’t completely successful due to their speed. Whoever it was kept talking softly, Rek could quite make out the comforting words through his panic, but he held onto the voice like a lifeline.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Each footfall carried him away from the beast. Away from the fear clouding his mind.

There was a soft creaking sound, and suddenly they were going… down? Was he on a ladder? Rek’s horns clicked softly against some pole or column as he descended, and the person carrying him muttered a soft swear and a quick apology. 

He was deposited onto a soft mattress where the guy kept talking to him as he inspected Rek’s arm, “Well, I hate to break it to you-” a pause, then a sigh, “I probably should’ve worded that better but, um, your arm’s broken. Probably. I’m not an expert, but it seems pretty broken to me, mostly ‘cause, uh, it’s bending where it’s not supposed to bend. But like I said, I’m not an expert, so maybe you’re fine? But as a living person with two working arms, I think I know where all the joints should be and… well, that’s not one of them!”

As the guy continued his awkward-but-calming rant, Rek finally calmed down enough to open his eyes a bit. He was in a dimly lit room, presumably underground. And despite it being rather small, it didn’t seem all that cramped. There were a few decorative pieces of carved wood that looked remarkably like decent chairs and a table on one side. There was a chest near another wall, and a column in the center of the room, with a ladder leading to a sand colored trap door on the roof. And there, sitting beside him was, “Skip?”

A relieved grin spread across Skip’s face, “Oh thank goodness, I had no clue what to do. Oh man, I would totally hug you right now if I weren’t worried you had broken ribs or something.”

Rek looked down at his arm and winced. He didn’t need the stabbing pain to realize it was broken. At least it wasn’t bleeding. Rek sat up, ignoring the pounding in his head as he looked around, “So. Where exactly am I right now?”

Skip set down his axe, the blade of which was currently covered in a black goo-like substance, in the corner and sighed. “You remember when I borrowed your pickaxe?”

Rek nodded. “Yeah, well, This is what I did with it.”

“Wow.” Rek looked around with a new appreciation. “How’d you have the time to do all this?”

“I just finished it today actually, with the final trapdoor and air circulation stuff. I still gotta furnish it up a bit. The wood carving wasn’t that hard, Fail’s chisel really came in handy there.”

Rek searched for the right words to say to someone who’d just saved him from a horrifying teleporting monster while he had a panic attack. He didn’t find them, and had to settle for a woefully inadequate, “thank you.”

Skip shrugged, “Don’t worry about it. But, um, why were you outside at night? I kinda thought you would be the most careful of us all.”

Rek scratched at the base of his horns abashed, and forced himself to tell Skip about his embarrassing antlers-tangled-in-vines fiasco, leading him to a want of a longer walk back to the village. He braced for the inevitable teasing.

Instead Skip just nodded, then smiled at Rek’s grimace “It’s not a crime to want some time to yourself y’know.” Skip told him. “Why’d you think I made this place? It sure wasn’t because I liked digging!”

Skip frowned when Rek didn’t laugh. And next thing he knew, Skip had plopped down beside him, and offered him an apple. He took it, confused. “How’d…?” 

Skip bit into an apple of his own. “I was choppin’ wood before I found you, and I collected some apples from one of the trees.” Rek bit into his apple, and had to slurp to stop the juice from spewing everywhere. “Good huh?”

“Mm hmm.”

“So.” Skip flipped his hair and flashed a movie star grin, “You gonna tell me what's wrong? Or do you want me to spout poetry ‘till ya do?”

Rek felt a small smile creep up on his face, “I don’t know, how good are you at poetry?”

Skip cleared his throat.

Rek rolled his eyes, “Oh no.”

            “Tell me what has happened on this wonderful sunset

             To make your heart so depressed and upset

             You act like everything is just dandy and fine

             But you keep your mouth closed in an impervious line”

Rek’s jaw dropped, “Did you just now make all of that up?”

Skip smirked, “I am a man of many talents. Now tell me what’s bothering you, before I add more verses.”

Rek’s shoulders slumped and he admitted, “I just… I don’t know. I felt so helpless. Like I’ve never been scared of any of the other mobs I’ve faced before, but I just… couldn’t face that creature. I couldn’t even draw my sword.”

Skip nodded and quietly said, “Everyone’s afraid of something. And you definitely had every right to freak out. Hell, if I were you and that devil came at me, I’d still be freaking out over it. No, actually, I’d probably just be dead. My point is; you don’t have to face everything fearlessly every time.”

“Here, let me remind you. You are the one who got the blaze rods. You are the one who single handedly fended off a horde of zombies in that desert pyramid long enough for everyone to jump down the hole. So yeah, you’re not perfect, but news flash- no one is. So what you had one tiny problem, you're not completely helpless just because you need a little bit of help.”

Rek blinked. Then took a deep breath in, and exhaled slowly. “You’re right. Thanks man, you’re really nice to talk to.”

“Of course I am, I’m awesome.” Skip winked, “So relax, you’ve got this!”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So… what’s the plan now?”

6 Friends gathered in the center of the village in the morning light, munching on fruit. Jay had spent the previous day with Sand to make a bunch of wooden tools, which came handy for breakfast. Sand set down his wooden bowl and announced, “We need to find an End portal. Which means lots of cave exploring, and we will need to be very careful ,” he shot a meaningful glance at Skip and Branzy, “Because there will most likely be mobs in the dark down there.”

Branzy grimaced, “Is that the only way to find a portal?”

“Unfortunately yes.”

“Alright!” Jay stood up with a clap, “When do we start?”

“Hold on, hold on.” Sand held up his hands like stop signs, “Rek and Fail have already gone into the caves for coal, correct?”

Rek shrugged (his arm amateurly wrapped up with wool and sticks), “Yeah, but we didn’t go far so we wouldn’t get lost.”

Fail nodded, “And Rek’s horns kept dragging on the ceiling which annoyed him, so we cut it short.”

“Ok.” Sand said slowly, holding back a grin, “We can go to the cave you’ve been in, and go looking in there together.”

“Actually.” Skip stood up, “I think we should split up into two- maybe three- groups to cover more ground faster.”

Sand’s eyes narrowed, “Or you’ll just get torn apart by mobs. Face it, there’s safety in numbers.”

“Ok!” Jay interrupted, “Either way, we should prepare first. Y’know get materials and stuff, we don’t know how long we’ll be down there.”

Branzy wrung his hands together nervously, “Sure, we can prepare, but if we decide if we’re going in groups or not first, we can prepare more accurately.”

Sand nodded, “I agree, and we should definitely go all together.”

Skip rolled his eyes, “Yep, and waste time and energy, great plan!”

“ Might be worth splitting up if I don’t have to hear you whine.” Sand muttered under his breath.

“Guys!” Rek called out, “How about we just vote?” a plethora of nods, “Ok, raise your hand if you want to go in separate groups.”

Skip obviously raised his hand. So did Jay, Fail, and surprisingly Branzy (Though he looked a lot less confident than the others). Sand gritted his teeth, “Here we go again.” he groaned.

Jay rubbed his hands together eagerly, “So who’s goin’ with who?”

Branzy glanced at Rek, but not wanting to claim the best fighter immediately, kept his mouth shut. Jay flung an arm around Skip, “My fine sir, would you venture into the dark unknown with me?”

Skip dipped an exaggerated (slightly impressive) bow, “Of course my good friend, just like old times!”

Sand rolled his eyes, and Branzy plucked up the courage to turn to Rek, “Mind if I come with you?”

Rek smiled, “Afraid you’ll need me to get you out of another hole you’ll inevitably fall into?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

Standing up, Fail clapped Sand on the back, “Guess that leaves us two together!” 

Fail beamed. Sand scowled, “Anyone want to trade partners?”

Fail clutched his heart, “I’m wounded! What’s wrong with being stuck with me?”

“You asked to have a sleepover, like, two nights ago!”

“What’s wrong with sleepovers?” Branzy piped up.

“Absolutely nothing!” Fail declared.

“Whatever,” Sand tossed his bundle to Rek, “Here ya go, I don’t need it. Fail’s got one, and Skip’s got a ton of pockets.”

Rek gave a thumbs up, “Thanks man!”

Abruptly, Branzy walked over and hugged Sand. Sand stiffened in shock. Skip tilted his head, “Is it snuggle time?” and dragged Jay over to the two.

Fail shrugged at Rek and joined the mass hug, Rek shook his head in amused exasperation and walked into the group as well. “Guys, this is sweet and all, but I can’t breathe.” Sand gasped between the crushing friendship.

“Just absorb the love.” Jay commanded.

Fail stepped on Jay’s foot and Jay yelped, “Dude!”

Sand sighed, “Yknow, you guys can really suck sometimes, but… you’re alright I guess.”

They didn’t let go.

Chapter Text

They were ready. Or as ready as they could be. Skip had food and tools stuffed in his pockets, Sand and Jay had carved more pickaxes for everyone, bundles were full, and they now all stood at the entrance to the cave, arguing over who would go in what direction.

“May I have the left one?” Fail asked politely.

“There are four splitting tunnels, do you want the middle left or very left one?” Sand snapped.

“Well, I want the very left one so he’ll have to take the middle left one.” Jay butted in.

“Hey! What if I wanted the farther left one?”

“Then too bad?”

Rek clapped his hands, “Guys! Let’s just take turns picking tunnels ok? How about this, Jay Skip, you pick first.”

“Middle left.”                                 “Far left.”

“... well shit.”

Branzy and Fail laughed while Sand sighed, “We’re never getting through this.”

“I want the far left, Skip, and I called it first.”

“No you did not!”

“Yes I did!”

“I hope you eat glass!”

Jay pulled out his golden sword and brandished it at Skip, “I’ll fight you for the far left tunnel!”

Skip smirked wickedly and unclipped his axe.  Branzy turned to Rek, “We’re really leaving those two alone?”

“Unfortunately.” Rek said.

Clang! Metal against metal as two people with maniac grins stared each other down. “Oh, wow.” Branzy commented, “I didn’t think they’d actually fight for it.”

“Yeah.” Fail agreed, “Good on them for actually following through on their threats.”

Rek sighed heavily, “Sand could you…?” he started.

Sand rolled his eyes, “Sure. You get Skip I’ll take Jay.” And without warning he tackled his target to the ground.

Rek, a bit less haphazardly, dragged Skip away from the now wrestling brawl. “Give me that,” Rek pointed to Skip’s axe, “I’ll give it back before you leave, Ok? I just don’t want you decapitating anyone.”

“Fiiiinnnnnnnnneeeeee.” Skip handed it over. He then signaled to Fail to come closer so he could whisper in the other’s ear, “Why don’t you claim the far left tunnel while that one (he gestured at Jay) is still busy?”

“How? He’s fighting my partner.”

“I’ll buy you time.”

And with those terrifying words Skip dove into the fray. Fail dragged Sand up, murmured a few quick words in his ear, and the two took off down their passageway, shouting goodbyes over Jay’s shouted insults.

“Well now what do we do?” Jay muttered as he dusted himself off.

“Oh that’s a shame. They took the other tunnel… guess we’re stuck with this one!” Skip happily hooked an arm through Jay’s, snatched back his axe, and dragged his companion away, “Buy guys! Good luck!”

Branzy glanced at Rek, “Well that went fast. So. Right right, or left right?”

“Right… wait- what?”

“Right right it is!” Branzy shot down the far right tunnel, leaving an already tired and exasperated Rek to chase after him.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sand was experiencing some extreme deja vu. He was walking in unfamiliar territory, with one other person. And that person would not. Stop. Talking. Sand eventually ended up zoning out somewhere between ‘we should think up a team name!’ and ‘does Jay’s hair feel pain?’

Their tunnel dropped steadily lower, and grew steadily hotter. Sand’s eyes had grown used to the dark by now, but apparently Fail’s hadn’t as he tripped for the ninth time in twenty minutes. “I’m alright!” Fail popped back up and immediately resumed his rant about glow-in-the-dark flowers or something like that.

Down, down, down. Hotter, hotter, hotter. 

Why is it so terribly hot down here? I hope we start going up again soon…

More walking, more talking, more ignoring. Fortunately, it didn’t take much longer to find where the heat was coming from. Unfortunately, they were now faced with the decision of tuning back. Or walking the very thin ledge around and over the massive lava pool in front of them to the other side. Sand side eyed Fail

Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it.

“We have to keep going.” Fail decided.

Damn.

“We could just go back and pick another tunnel?” Sand suggested, but he knew Fail wouldn’t budge.

“And waste all this time and progress? No, and besides, It can’t be that hard.”

“I’m quite a fan of not being cooked.” Sand muttered, but followed him out to the ledge. He knew in the sensible part of his brain that they shouldn’t waste time. 

Fail carefully started making his way across, “A little lava never hurt anybody right?”

Oh it definitely did, but Sand didn’t say that as he stepped onto the ledge as well. Why did it have to be lava? Why did the universe apparently hate them all so much?

Slowly and carefully the two sweating, trembling friends made their way across the tiny ledge. Almost there, just a few more steps… “So.” Fail stopped inching along, “D’ya want the good news? Or the bad news?”

“Good news please.” Sand was already dreading the reason Fail stopped.

“You sure?”

“Oh for goodness sake, just say it.”

Fail glanced back at him, “Well. It’s not impossible.”

Sand blinked, “What isn’t”

“The bad news.”

Sand gritted his teeth. People really did seem to love to test his patience. “Then what’s the bad news?”

“Well, the ledge we are currently walking on drops off a good bit away from the other side-”

“WHAT!!!”

“Hold on, hold on. We’ll have to jump, and it’s pretty far, but like I said earlier: It’s not impossible.”

Sand hit his head on the wall in frustration. Fail cringed, “That sounded like it hurt.”

“Don’t worry, it did.”

“It’s not that bad.” he tried to reassure himself and Sand, “I mean, we don’t get a lot of foot room to prepare for the jump, buttttt it’s totally doable!”

“We’re both gonna die.”

“Look on the bright side.”

“The bright side is currently lava, Fail.”

“... you’re not wrong.”

Sand glanced around. It was so hot he felt like he couldn’t think straight, “Surely there’s another way… Maybe we can still go back! Or we could-”

He was interrupted by one of the most high pitched screams ever heard on the planet. Eardrums begged for mercy as Fail threw himself recklessly over the gap. Time seemed to slow: every moment stretched out in fear and horror- until he crashed to the ground in a wheezing heap. “Are you ok?!” Sand called out, concerned.

“Never better!” Fail leapt to his feet grinning, “You got this Sand!”

Yeah. Yeah I got this.

Sand looked at the gap, which seemed to be growing larger by the second.

Ok, it’s not that bad, just channel your inner Skip.

He jumped, pushing off the ledge as hard as he could. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see his imminent death approaching. And then he slammed into something hard. Groaning, Sand rolled onto his back, opening his eyes, he was greeted to a way-to-close-to-his-face thumbs up and a whole lot of relief.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Branzy didn’t quite manage to hide his laughter as Rek’s horns hit a stalactite again . Rek shot a glare in his general direction, muttering about stupid caves. Some time ago, their tunnel had widened and now it was much more spacious as they walked forward, save for the ceiling- which was still low, much to Rek’s annoyment.

Branzy was a tad bit worried. About finding the portal. About entering the end. About how long the tunnel was. About the other’s well being. Ok, he was worried about a lot. 

But that also means I can’t be surprised. I’ve thought of every possible bad scenario.

That didn’t reassure him much. What if one of the other groups needed help? He really shouldn’t have let Jay and Skip, the two most reckless people, go off on their own. And what if they run out of food before they found the portal? Even if they found the portal, how would they even let the others know? What if- “Which way are you thinking about taking?”

Branzy snapped out of his worried thoughts. Ah, there was a fork in the road. Rek’s expression of curiosity and slight confusion made Branzy start to wonder how long he’d been standing there, staring at nothing. He opened his mouth to answer Rek, but no words came out.

Rek waved a hand in front of his face, “Hello? Earth to Branzy. You’re spacing out on me, BranzyCraft.”

“I- um, uh. Was just, uh, y’know…”

“Just spit it out, it’s all good.”

Branzy glared at him, “I was just thinking. About… something else. Which tunnel do you want to take?” He changed the subject as fast as he could.

Rek shook his head, clearly noticing the subject change, “Let's try the left, and while we're walking, you can tell me what’s on your mind.”

“Alright! Gotta love left!” and Branzy started running.

“Woah, wait up!” Rek called, startled, and chased after him.

Branzy raced ahead, he did not want to talk about his constant doom-and-gloom type thoughts. So why not run away from his problems? It was the perfect solution.

Rek did his best to keep up, he had no idea how Branzy knew where he was going so well. Rek could barely see two feet in front of himself, how was Branzy running over uneven ground that fast? It was when Rek nearly tripped and impaled himself over a spiky rock that he decided to slow down. He called out to Branzy to stop running.

Branzy didn’t hear anything, the air rushed past his ears. He felt great, finally leaving all the worry and stress behind. The damp tunnel didn’t feel so scary anymore. He didn’t hear bones creaking, or a bow pulling back. But he sure as hell felt the pain of an arrow piercing his arm.

It felt like boiling acid, and made Branzy stumble. He whipped his head around so fast he got a crick in the neck. It was worth it though, when he saw the skeleton lineup it’s aim. He jumped to the side, dodging the arrow and landing heavily on some rocks. He let out a couple of words that would’ve made Skip proud, and took off running again, this time for his life.

Rek knew something was wrong when he heard Branzy swear.

Oh man, if he fell into another hole…

He picked up the pace again, still trying not to trip. Curse the stupid darkness. He rounded a corner and heard something clatter. 

That sounded like bones.

There was a sharp twang! And instinct made Rek drop to the ground. He felt a slight whip of air as the arrow flew overhead. Rolling forward he pulled out his sword, with a quick leap forward and to his feet, he closed the distance between him and the mob. He sliced upward, knocking the skull right off its spine, leaving the rest of the bone body to crumble apart.

“Branzy?”

No answer.

Rek started running again.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There were more mobs. As Branzy ran, he passed more and more monsters in the ever-widening tunnel. By now, it was a proper cave, Rek would probably be pleased that the roof was also now significantly higher and there was light from some gross plant on the wall. Oh no Rek! Branzy had kinda just run from the skeleton and forgotten about his friend. What if the skeleton got to him? What if he got lost and they couldn’t find each other again?

Branzy had to stop worrying. 

If I can make it this far, Rek definitely can.

For now he just had to keep running, ‘cause if he didn’t he’d probably be shish kebabed. Or ripped apart limb by limb. Or both! He really hoped it wouldn’t be both, or either. So he kept going. Eventually his lungs started to burn, and his feet started to hurt. 

“BRANZY!”

Did he just imagine that? Maybe. He really couldn’t tell if he wa-

“BRANZY!!!”

Branzy planted both feet firmly in the ground, skidding dangerously to a stop, he whirled around, lost his balance and stumbled backward. After which he proceeded to trip over a rock, and fall over. And of course, because it was obviously his lucky day, the ground gave way from underneath Branzy and he fell.

“BRANZY!?”

Rek pushed his legs to go faster. Leave it to Branzy to make his life as worrisome as possible. He darted around a zombies’ outstretched arms, grateful for the increased light. He slowed to a stop at yet another hole to check if Branzy was ok inside of it. “Branzy?! Are you there?! Can you hear me?!”

Down below, Branzy was in a slight state of shock, which was fine with him as it dulled the pain from the arrow in his arm a bit. “I think so.” he called back up.

“You think you can hear me?”

“Wait… didn’t you ask if I was ok?”

“I asked if you could hear me!!”

“Oh… well, yes I can!”

Rek pulled on his antlers in frustration, “HOW MANY TIMES AM I GOING TO HAVE TO SAVE YOU FROM A PIT YOU FELL IN BRANZY!!!??!!”

“At least one more?” Branzy sheepishly answered, “And hey, It’s not a true adventure if I didn’t get stuck in a hole, right?”

Rek looked around, there weren’t any monsters near them thankfully but, “I don’t have anything to pull you up with.”

Branzy pushed himself to his feet and looked around. His jaw dropped, “Hey Rek.”

“Yeah man?”

“I… I don’t think you need to pull me out. You, uh, you might want to come down here actually.”

Rek could barely make out Branzy’s figure in the dark. Maybe the guy found something, “Ok? Do I just drop down or…?”

“Yeah, it’s not that far of a drop.”

Rek swung his legs over the edge, “Whatever.” he dropped.

Branzy glanced at him, “How’d you land on your feet?”

Rek shrugged, brushing off a non-existent speck of dust off his hoodie. “I’m just awesome. Why did you want me down here?”

Branzy nudged him with his good arm and pointed to a faint light source. Rek turned to look, and he gasped. Branzy nodded, “Yeah.”

“But… is that?”

“Uh huh!”

The two grinned at each other, “I guess I can’t be mad at you for falling in here now, huh?”

“Nope!”

Because in front of them was a small staircase, and up that staircase, glowing faintly, was the End portal.

“We gotta tell the others, right Branzy?”

“Yeah.”

“How are we going to get out?”

“... Ah.”

Chapter Text

Finding the rest of the group was no small task. Both Branzy and Rek agreed that Rek should be the one to go searching for them, seeing as he was less likely to die trying. It was a simple matter of sprinting alllllllll the way back to the beginning, picking a different tunnel, and then sprinting hopefully fast enough to catch up to his friends.

Rek kinda felt bad for leaving Branzy behind, but he also knew it would be better if he went alone. He also felt a bit bad for accidentally kicking Branzy in the head as he was pulling himself out of the pit, but that feeling of guilt was overshadowed by just a hint of amusement.

So off he raced down Skip and Jay’s tunnel, sword in hand and excitement high. After all, they finally had a shot at getting out of here. He had no idea what was waiting for him in the dark as the tunnel started to decline and the walls widened.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Jaymoji couldn’t tell if the sound was his overly-loud heartbeat, or the heavy footsteps of the giant death monster that was currently searching for him- about twenty feet away from where he was hiding.

Jay had one hand over his mouth to quiet his breathing, and the other holding his hair in place so that it would stop brushing against the weird blue slime-like moss behind him.

He knew they should’ve picked the other tunnel. Screw Skip for making them go down this one. He didn’t know where Skip was. He didn’t know where the exit was. Hell, he didn’t even know where he was! 

Skip and Jay had just been walking down their tunnel, tripping, falling, and making fun of each other, when they had found a massive city like structure, all covered in the blue gunk. At first they’d clearly seen the exit was on the other side of the city, but as they ventured towards it, they gradually lost sight of it. Along with almost everything else they used to be able to see.

Quickly they’d learned to shut up, or they’d get their eardrums blasted out by a horrible screeching sound. But not talking still hadn’t been enough, and two more awful screeches later the ground had erupted. Jay had screamed and Skip had shouted something about the end of the world, and somehow they both had ended up apart from each other as they ran for their lives.

At least the large horrible blue-mold-covered beast didn’t have eyes. If it did Jay would probably have just been a puddle of goop on the ground thanks to the blue laser it annoyingly shot at them.

Oh how Jay wished he was back in bed. Maybe with a piece of bread. And some honey. 

The sounds of the monster’s footfalls slowly receded. “ Now what do we do?” Someone whispered in Jay’s ear, which would’ve made him scream if the person didn’t also put their hand over his already covered mouth.

“ Do you want to die?”

Jay shook his head, still too startled to speak.

“Good, then shut up.”

“You’re the one talking!” Jay whisper-hissed once he found his voice again.

“So did you dumbass.” The voice that could only be Skip replied. “We need to get to the exit.”

“Where is the exit exactly?”

“Well how should I know? I’m not Branzy, I can’t see in the dark.”

“Branzy can see in the dark?”

“Long story. Well, not really, but we still don’t have time to tell it. Anyway, if we go to the edge of the cave and follow the wall, in theory we should eventually find the exit right?”

“Right… Hey Skip, why did the monster stop moving around?”

“... probably because it already found us.”

He turned around slowly, not overly eager to meet the face of what was surely going to end his life in a second. Even though the monster didn’t have eyes, it was looking straight at them. Jay jabbed Skip in the side, “This is your fault by the way.”

“Yeah. Oops.”

Jay tucked and rolled- the sonic blast barely missing him, and sprang up to his feet. He sprinted away from the beast, not daring to look behind him even though he wanted to check if Skip was still in one piece. He kept running to the edge of the city, willing himself not to trip.

Please don’t fall. Please don’t fall. Please don’t fall.

It was so simple, find the exit, shout Skip’s name until he heard and found Jay, and run out of there. Easy. 

Until he collided at full speed with someone else. It wasn’t a graceful collision, nor was it painless. Jay’s hair got tangled in something pointy, and as he fell, he dragged said pointy thing down on top of him- which was connected to something, no, someone who was quite heavy. The person then tried to sit up at the same time Jay did, resulting in both of their heads smashing together. “Shit!”

The person bolted up, dragging Jay’s tangled hair with him, “Jay!?”

Jay froze, “Rek?”

“Yeah, I am so sorry!” Rek helped him to his feet, “Are you ok?”

“What the hell are you doing here- OWW, my hair’s caught in your horns!”

During the short- rather embarrassing- detangling spree, Jay gave Rek a quick rundown of the current situation, which just about boiled down to ‘giant blind monster chasing us. Don’t know where Skip went.’ Rek thought quickly, wishing he had some source of light with him, “Do you have any rope? We could leave the end of the rope here so we could find our way back in the dark.”

Jay shook his head, before realizing Rek probably couldn’t see that, “No, Skip had the rope.”

“Well, we just have to find him the old fashioned way then.”

“I really don’t want to go back in there.” Jay muttered, but he had already started walking back the way he came. “You find the exit, and just shout our names so we know where you are ok?” He called to Rek.

“Fine, but if you’re not back in five minutes I’m following you.”

“Fifteen.”

“...Ten.”

“Deal. Wish me luck!”

Searching the dark city was harder than Jay initially thought; it was massive, dark, and eerily quiet. He didn’t know if the last part was a good thing or a bad one. Part of him hoped Skip would make some noise so that Jay could find him, and the other part wanted Skip to stay hidden and as silent as possible.

So when there was a bright flash of blue light that was immediately followed by a bit of colorful swearing, Jay ran toward the commotion without a second thought. He smacked into some walls a few times, but he kept on going. Finally he caught sight of a dark figure crouching behind a chunk of rock.

“Skip!” Jay snatched the startled man’s arm, “Thank goodness you’re alive! Alright, let’s go!”

“There are two now!” Skip shrieked as he fought against Jay’s grip.

Jay tightened his hold, “Two what? Come on man, we gotta go!”

“TWO OF THEM!!!” Skip pointed in front of them, where indeed two of the beast were now approaching.

“Oh shit!” Jay turned the opposite direction, and the two bolted. Jay didn’t stop to wonder how another one appeared as he jumped sideways to avoid another blast.

“Just like old times huh?” Skip panted as they fled.

Jay didn’t answer, but memories of the horrible nether chase filled his head. He stopped debating whether this chase would end worse than the last one when Rek came into view. Yes! The exit was there! “Don’t just stand there, run!” Skip shouted as they shot past him.

Rek took one look at the angry hunting monster- and sped after the other two.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fail stopped moving when he realized Sand wasn’t next to him. He turned around to see the blue man standing a few feet behind him with a look of horror on his face. “What? What is it Sand? I don’t like that look.”

“I can’t believe I just realized…” Sand muttered to himself, barely loud enough for Fail to hear him. “I can’t believe I forgot.” He met Fail’s eyes, “Oh no…”

“What? What is it? Tell me please!” Fail grabbed Sand’s shoulders, panic clear in his voice.

Sand swallowed roughly, “We brought the blaze powder from the nether to light the portal right?” Fail nodded. “Well, we also need another ingredient.”

Fail frowned, “What other ingredient?”

“Ender pearls.

“Ok. What are those, and how do we get them?”

Sand took a deep calming breath, “We need to go back to the nether. And we need to raid an enderman’s nest.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The three shaken friends stood (or rather collapsed) back at the beginning of the cave with four tunnels. They weren’t in the best of shape, Rek realized as they caught their breath. Jay had a cut on his forehead, Skip kept rubbing his back and wincing occasionally, and Rek himself felt like he might pass out from exhaustion. “I’ll go get Fail and Sand,” Rek offered after a few seconds, “If you guys want to go find Branzy and wait with him at the portal.”

“No!” the two exclaimed perfectly in sync.

“We’ll go together.” Jay told him firmly.

“Yeah.” Skip nodded, pushing himself to his feet. “We don’t know how to get to Branzy, and you are not going alone.” Rek opened his mouth to protest, but Skip cut him off with a clap, “So! Now that we have that settled, which tunnel did they go down?” 

Jay glanced at him, “You were here when they picked their tunnel.”

“I don’t remember.”

“Oh.” 

“You were here too.” Skip pointed out.

Jay shrugged, “I don’t remember either.” They both turned expectantly to Rek.

Rek sighed. He knew he wouldn’t be able to convince them to leave. “That one.” he pointed to the far left passageway.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Skip smirked at Jay, who grinned back, and they immediately began racing down the hallway.

“Always ready, fire, aim with those two huh?” Rek muttered to himself as he jogged after them.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Simple, quick job. We go in, find a warped forest, find a nest, steal some enderpearls, and get out. Easy.”

“Did you put the obsidian in my bundle, ‘cause, I don’t remember putting that in there.”

Sand dragged a hand along his face, “Yes, Fail, I added the obsidian. I wanted to be prepared for anything.”

“Alright.” Fail cracked his knuckles, “Time to save the day!”

“Yes. Now let’s make haste ok?”

“Yes sir!” Fail completed his words with a salute.

The nether was even hotter than Fail remembered.

Though I suppose I don’t really belong in here, being part fish and all.

Sand took the lead without a word, setting off at a brisk pace in what Fail hoped was the right direction. They walked for a while with a lot of direction changes Fail failed to keep track of. After a while he had to speak up, “Do you know where you’re going? Or the way back? Or what a warped forest, enderman, or ender pearl looks like?”

Sand ignored him, so he pressed on, “I’m just worried we might be lost, or dying of heatstroke or-” 

Sand elbowed him in the ribs, “Shut up.” he whispered and pointed toward a cliff edge, “Look, we’ve found it.”

Found what? Certain death?

Fail thought as they crept to the edge. “Look!” Sand pointed down the cliff, where a surprisingly blue-filled forest sat.

“Is that the warped forest?”

Sand rolled his eyes, “No, I just stopped to show you the view- of course it is! But look! There! ”

Fail squinted, “I don’t see anything.”

Sand opened his mouth to say something rude, but thought better of it, “There’s the nest we’re looking for, now come on! We have to hurry. There are all kinds of mobs lurking around here.”

Sand led the way, somehow managing to find a rocky mass to climb down. They made it to the forest, which now that he was up close, Fail could feel something was off. Like the trees were watching him, and hidden animals were holding their breath. It seemed like it was waiting for something. Fail didn’t care to find out what.

The blueish grass squished beneath their feet as they carefully picked their way across. When Fail saw a ‘hoglin’ for the first time roaming along the edge of the forest he almost screamed, but Sand shushed him and whispered in his ear, “The hoglins don’t like warped fungi, we're safe if we stay inside the forest.”

So they continued on. Sand was the picture of competence in Fail’s eyes; he walked quietly, but with determination. He was unfazed by the danger, but still aware and cautious of it. Fail on the other hand was trying not to wimp out on him. Sand needed him, so he had to stick around. He did hope they would pick up the pace though.

Eventually Sand grabbed Fail’s arm- making him jump- and pointed straight ahead, “Right there. Now remember, look at the floor, no matter what you hear. Grab the pearls. Get out. Do not look up under any circumstances, until I say we’re clear, ok?”

Fail nodded weakly. Sand gave him half a smile and a thumbs up, which apparently was the best he was going to get as Sand dragged him toward the nest.

The floor never looked so frightening. At least it was flat. That was pretty much the only good news. Sand had tried to pull away from Fail’s handhold, but was ultimately unsuccessful in escaping the death grip. It was stuffy. It smelt like rotting burnt trash. It was dark. And the worst part? Fail could hear footsteps around him of things that were not him, nor Sand. 

He could hear some strange warbling sounds around them occasionally, and Fail was dying to look up and see what it was coming from. But he also never wanted to look at anything but the ground ever again. Sand kept pulling him forward slowly, and it was a good thing Fail’s hand was practically locked on Sand’s, otherwise it would have slid off by now from the absurd amount of sweat on it.

The two entered a room even darker than the last ones, and Fail hoped the slight squeeze Sand gave his hand meant this was where the ender pearls were.

Almost over. It’s almost over.

Fail’s knee collided with something hard and he almost swore. The culprit of his pain seemed to be a giant bowl of rock in the center of the floor.  Sand squeezed his hand more urgently. 

Ohhhh. That probably means let go.

Fail took a deep breath and released the blue hand. He watched the hand reach into the bowl and he followed its direction. There, in the bottom of the bowl was a cluster of softly glowing… eggs? Were those eggs? Fail steeled his nerves and slowly scooped up a handful to dump into his bundle. He almost dropped the pearls when he felt them. They felt made of slightly squishy glass, and were astoundingly cold.

Yep. Feels like alien eggs to me.

The two quickly stored the rest of the pearls and Fail grabbed Sand’s hand again. “ Can we go now?” he whispered.

“ Yeah.” Sand whispered back to him, “Let’s go. Where are you?”

“I’m right here. I’m literally holding your hand.”

“...Fail.” Sand had a slightly strangled voice, “ I’m not holding your hand.”

A feeling of horror swept over Fail as he looked at the hand he was holding. It was unnaturally long and slender. And it wasn’t blue. It was void black.

With a totally manly squeal, Fail dropped the foreign hand and made a mad dash for the exit- and not looking where he was going- promptly crashed into a wall.

He fell on his back with a thud, and instantly covered his eyes. There was a moment of silence… then a hand grabbed his. “Please tell me that’s your hand.” Fail whimpered.

“Yes, now come on! And don’t open your eyes, it's right there!” Sand yanked him to his feet.

Fail didn’t know what 'it' was, but he wasn't about to try to find out. He didn't open his eyes as they were running, he trusted his friend enough not to lead him into a wall. Well at least not intentionally. As they ran he bumped into a few things that were sure to leave some killer bruises later, not that he gave it much thought as he focused on not tripping.

The air grew less stuffy and Fail prayed that meant they were out of the nest. He still didn’t open his eyes. Somewhere along the trail Sand was pulling him along there was a growl of something that sounded way too hungry. Fail hoped it wasn’t the hoglins.

When Sand skidded to a stop Fail rammed him from behind and they both toppled over. “You can open your eyes now. And get off of me.” Came the wonderful sound of Sand’s muffled and annoyed voice.

Fail opened his eyes carefully and climbed to his feet. They were back at the bottom of the cliff. “Can we go back to earth now?” Fail asked hopefully.

Sand rolled his shoulders as he stood back up, “We’re on earth. Just in the nether. But yes, we can go back to the overworld now.”

Fail wrapped him in a tight embrace while muttering, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” in the surprised man’s ear.

Sand awkwardly patted him on the back. “Uh, you're welcome? Are you ok? Are you going into shock or something?”

Fail laughed and squeezed him tighter, “I’m wonderful actually. Thank you.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rek, Skip, and Jay all stared at the pool of lava in front of them. Skip pointed out the small ledge along the wall first. Rek shot his idea down instantly. “Ok. I’ve figured it out!” Jay exclaimed, grinning at the other two.

Rek lit up, “You know how to cross the lava?!”

Jay’s hair flicked, “No. But there are two ways this could have gone. Option 1! Sand and Fail turned around once they saw this and picked a different tunnel to go down. Option 2! They both fell into the lava and were burned alive.”

“Or option 3.” Skip jumped in, “They crossed the tiny walkway over there.”

“Which leads back to option 2.” Jay argued, “They fell in and died.”

“Wow, such little faith!”

“I know right?”

The three whipped around to gape at the newcomers. Sand and Fail stood on the other side of the lava pool, grinning and waving. Rek looked at them then back at the ledge, “How did you…?”

“As much as it pains me to say this.” Sand smirked, “Skip’s right. We took the walkway.”

“But the walkway is as wide as a twig!” Jay stared at them in amazement.

Fail turned to Sand and murmured, “Doesn’t feel quite so hot in here anymore huh?”

“Not after that.” Sand agreed.

“After what?” Jay asked.

Skip tilted his head, “Yeah, why did you guys start making your way back?”

“Why’d you come looking for us?” Fail countered.

Sand locked eyes with Rek and realization dawned on his face, “You found it, didn’t you?”

Rek nodded, “Yeah we did. We gotta hurry back though, I don’t like leaving Branzy alone this long.”

Skip shot him a sideways glance, “You don’t give him enough credit. The guy’s stronger than he looks y’know.”

Rek shifted uncomfortably, “Yeah I know that, I just wouldn’t want to leave anyone alone for too long.”

Fail shrugged at Sand, “You comin’?”

Sand gestured toward the ledge, “Lead the way.”

Fail slightly miscalculated the force necessary to make the jump and slammed painfully into the wall, but thankfully managed to keep his grip and footing. Sand of course nailed the jump and the two shimmied their way over the pool of lava. The other three held their breaths as they approached.

Fail hopped back on to solid ground and instantly relaxed, high-fiving Jay. 

Sand gripped the wall tightly, he hated this part. Time to jump. As he bent his knees, the small lip he was standing on finally gave way. The others let out terrified exclamations as he slipped. Sand really didn’t want to die to lava. Stabbed through the chest? Sure. Poisoned food? Maybe. But not lava.

Someone snatched his wrist a split second before he would’ve been roasted, and wrenched his arm with surprisingly brutal force back onto solid ground.

Sand knew the pain in his right arm was probably because it was dislocated, but he didn’t really care as he looked up to see… Skip. Why him? Of all the people to save him, why Skip?

He knew he should probably thank the guy, but before he could Sand was tackled to the ground by a borderline hysterical Failboat, swiftly followed by Jay and Rek. They were asking him something, probably checking if he was ok, but Sand just stared at Skip. And Skip stared back at him with equally wide eyes.

“I’m fine.” Sand pushed everyone off of him and stood up. “Thank you Skip.”

Skip blinked, “No problem.”

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Rek questioned, looking him up and down.

Sand nodded and gave a brief smile. Fail let out a shaky breath, “Can we please go to the portal now and get out of here. I-” his voice cracked, “I want to go home.”

Sand nodded, “Yes please.”

Rek didn’t look entirely convinced that Sand was ok, but he didn’t press it. “Alright. Let’s go.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“How’d you find this place?” Jay asked.

“You don’t want to know.” Branzy told him.

“You do want to know.” Rek stated, “He just doesn’t want to tell you.”

They were all together, standing on the stairs leading to the portal. At first there were holes along the rim, but Sand had covered some ender pearls with blaze powder. Once coated, they started to glow much brighter, and he placed them inside all the holes. Once all holes were filled, the portal lit, and the six of them had been standing there staring at it for the past 5 minutes.

“So are we going to go anytime soon or…?” Fail asked the question they’ve all been avoiding.

Branzy sighed, “We kinda have to, right?”

Sand nodded, “The best shot at getting our memories back, without knowing how we even lost them in the first place, is from void magic. And we can only find sorcerers in the End.”

A few beats of silence hung in the room as everyone processed his words.

“Alright. Everybody ready?” Rek asked. 

They all nodded. Fail gripped the two people he was closest to’s hands. Branzy and Skip then grabbed on to Rek and Sand’s. Rek grabbed onto Jay. “Wanna pull us through?” Skip asked Branzy.

Branzy smiled at him, “Let’s do this!”

And the six friends stepped into the portal, entering the End.

Chapter Text

Cold. Dark, cold, and empty. That’s what the end was. The six friends all stood on an enormous floating yellow-rock island, amongst other floating islands hanging in the dark void, all covered in thin purple trees. Chorus fruit trees. The name popped into Branzy’s head, just long enough for him to wonder how he knew that. He also realized he knew they were edible, and quite tasty.

Branzy felt a want to walk up to a tree to pluck the fruit, when he looked around and saw that everyone was staring at him. “Umm, what's wrong?” he asked.

There were a few moments of silence, which was seriously starting to freak Branzy out. Everyone looked so startled, and Jay’s jaw was practically on the floor. Thankfully Skip broke the silence and cleared his throat, shifting nervously, “Uh well, you’re kinda… glowing…”

Glowing? Did I mishear?

“It’s so cool!” Fail jumped in, “Your skin is, like, glowing ever so slightly. But your eyes are full-on mystic-purple glowing right now! It’s sick!”

Branzy glanced down at his arms. They seemed fine to him. He gently touched his eyelids. Everything felt normal. Branzy didn’t like the way Rek was looking at him. His expression was like a mixture of confusion and… fear? Why was Rek afraid of Branzy?

Sand glanced at him warily, and Branzy knew that the guy had probably figured out whatever was wrong with him. Branzy gave him a slight shake of his head, hopefully only Sand could see.

Please don’t tell everyone else. I don’t know what’s happening, but please don’t tell them.

Branzy really didn’t want to be left behind because he had caught some void sickness.

Sand’s eyes widened slightly and he gave a quick nod of understanding. Branzy breathed out a quiet sigh of relief as Sand winked at him and turned to the rest of the group, “Ok, it’s cool and all that Branzy’s glowing, but I’d like to get going now please.”

Skip took one look at Branzy’s discomfort and nodded his head, something changing in his eyes, “Yeah, I actually agree with Sand here. We should get moving.”

Sand glanced at Skip with an expression of mixed shock and rage. At least he knew better than to pick a fight with the blonde. 

The group, after reluctantly dropping the subject, wandered over to the edge of the island, unsure of how to continue. A good bit of void separated the island they were on from the next one over. Sand nudged Fail, “Bring out the pearls.”

“What are alien eggs gonna do?” Fail muttered as he pulled out his bundle.

“They’re not eggs!” Sand snapped as he snatched the pearls and passed them around the group.

Jay nearly dropped his in surprise, “It’s wet!”

“No, It’s just cold.” Branzy corrected, cradling the pearl carefully in his arms.

Rek turned to Sand, “What are these for?” he held the pearl away from him gingerly, like he was afraid it would bite him.

“You’ll see. Ok, now listen very carefully, and do exactly as I say.” Sand glared at Skip and Jay as he said the last part. “You’re going to squeeze the pearl until it flashes, then you’re going to throw it to the next island. Throw it as hard as you can, trust me, you do not want to undershoot this.”

“What happens if we undershoot it?” Rek rubbed the base of his horns nervously.

“You die a horrible death.” Sand told him bluntly.

“...”

“Well on that note!” Fail attempted at a cheerful voice. “I’mna go k?”

Sand shrugged, “Sure, whatever. Try not to die.”

“I’ll do my best!” Fail wound his arm back dramatically, and chucked the pearl decently hard. He spun back around to face the rest of them. He gave a sharp salute and lopsided grin before disappearing in a burst of purple particles. 

Skip, being the next to follow, managed to shout a quick ‘Tell my family I love them!’ before also vanishing. One by one the group teleported to the other island, until only Rek and Branzy remained. Branzy glanced at Rek, who seemed frozen, staring at the pearl in his hands. “You alright man?” Branzy asked, voice full of concern.

Rek gripped the pearl tighter, “Yeah I just… I don’t know. For some reason I- I don’t think I can do this.” he admitted the last part quietly.

Branzy walked over and squeezed his shoulder gently, it wasn’t like Rek to be this scared. Though to be fair, it wasn’t like Branzy to be this calm. “Just think of it… like throwing a ball.” Branzy told him after some thought, “Jay’s on the other island, and you’re just playing catch with him. He threw you that- clumsily of course- and now it’s just your turn to throw it back.”

Rek nodded shakily, giving Branzy a weak smile, before lining up his aim. “Thanks Branz.” He murmured, and threw the pearl.

Branzy watched his friend disappear with a light heart. He took a deep breath. He was alone right now. In the End. But he wasn’t scared. The darkness swirled around him as he breathed it in. It felt refreshing. It felt safe. It felt like home.

He threw his pearl.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The six friends continued island-hopping for a while. Fail was beginning to think he’d underestimated how many pearls Sand had brought. Jay had even stopped them all for a quick snack break. Rek had gotten over his short-lived pearl phobia, and they kept right on going.

After a few more islands, and a lot of Sand’s reassuring them that there were plenty of pearls left, they stopped teleporting when they arrived at the biggest island they’d seen so far. It was so much larger that they couldn’t even see the other side of it after walking for a few minutes. Sand told the rest of them that this is where they would find the wizard. Somewhere…

“Do you think that magic can teleport us back to our respective homes?”

Skip winced as  Fail’s voice pierced his ears and stabbed his head. Ever since he’d been in the end, his back had hurt so much more. It was weird, almost like heat made the pain go away, but the cold made it worse. He’d much rather be in the nether right now, especially because somehow either the cold or his back pain had given him a headache, and now he was being uncharacteristically quiet, and wishing everyone else would be quiet as well.

He didn’t catch Sand’s answer. Jay, Rek, and Branzy kept glancing at Skip, and he didn’t know if he was imagining it, or they were actually noticing he was acting weird. Maybe they just appreciated his silence.

Skip took out a few blueberries from one of his pockets, using them as a non-verbal excuse to stop walking for a bit. He caught up at the back of the group and relaxed a bit. Hopefully no one tries to talk to him now that he was behind them.

Unfortunately Sand, who also stays at the back to avoid people, noticed something was clearly wrong. The blue man pulled up beside Skip and casually started talking, “Usually you're annoyingly loud. What’s wrong with you now?”

Of course Sand would only have something passive aggressive to say. Skip quelled his natural urge to try and cheer the guy up. Skip was done trying to gain his acceptance. If Sand wanted to be rude, then fine. Two could play at that game.

“Absolutely nothing’s wrong with me. I’m just thinking.”

“Oh really,” Sand raised an eyebrow, “Trying something new I see.”

“Yes, I usually prefer to actually get things done, instead of wasting time overthinking silly little problems.” The calm, smooth voice rolled effortlessly off Skip’s tongue, opposite to the inner rage bubbling inside him.

“Yeah? Like that time you got yourself and Branzy stuck in the desert temple pit?” Sand said it calmly, but his fists were clenched with a half-hidden fury. 

“Face it.” Sand hissed, voice low enough to not be heard by the others, “You don’t know what you're doing. You blindly run into danger head-first, and you don’t care who you drag down along the way. Well guess what? You may not care about your own wellbeing, but don’t you dare get me, or my friends, hurt because you decided to do something stupid.”

Sand stalked ahead, not waiting for Skip’s response, not that Skip would’ve had one after that.

Maybe he’s right.  Every time I’ve done something, I’ve gotten someone else dragged along with me. Maybe I am hurting them more than helping them.

Skip glanced at the five of them, walking and laughing together. He felt the anger in his stomach die, replaced by sadness and regret.

Sand’s right to hate me. I’ve done nothing but harm them since I woke up that first day.

Suddenly the cold didn’t feel so bad. At least it matched what Skip felt inside.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4 people in the group were chatting happily. Something about Branzy’s epic glowing skin. Sand didn’t really know, he’d started ignoring them a long time ago. He was thinking about Skip.

Troublemaker. Reckless behaviour, snide and snarky remarks, over-the-top charisma… and he’s definitely hiding something. But is it dangerous? Is he dangerous? Yes, at least in an indirect way. Trouble follows his every step it seems. But directly? I don’t know if he actually means us harm. He’s hiding something, absolutely, but is what he’s hiding an ill intent?

And round and round Sand argued with himself. Part of him felt bad for snapping at Skip the way he did. Part of him felt good to get it off his chest. And part of him didn’t know what to feel. If Skip did mean to hurt or betray them, then Sand’s words should be a good warning and might help keep the rest of them safe. But if the man didn’t mean them any harm then he’d just verbally assaulted an innocent and genuinely sweet guy.

Sand couldn’t deny that Skip was nice. He’d seen the man help clean Branzy’s wound when he scraped his knee. He’d spent a whole morning helping Fail search for unique flowers so that Fail wouldn’t have to do it alone. Skip was always quick to help or quick to offer it. But was it an act? And if so what for? Something about Skip just rubbed Sand the wrong way.

“Is there something you want to tell the rest of us?” Jay’s question sliced through Sand’s thoughts like a knife.

He looked up. They weren’t moving. Everyone was looking at him expectantly. It dawned on Sand that he had no idea how long they’d been stopped for.

Someone cleared their throat. Fail lightly pushed his arm, as if seeing if he could tip Sand over like a statue. Branzy waved his hand in front of Sand’s face, “You still with us? Sand man?”

Sand plastered on a smile that probably looked as fake as it felt, “I’m fine! I’m just y’know, thinking.”

Nobody bought it. “What are you thinking about? Jay asked.

Sand flailed for an answer. Something, anything that could distract them. He couldn’t tell them he was worried about one of the people travelling with them. He needed something else to give them to think about. “Ummm… Did you guys know I’m a blue slime hybrid!?”

Well. It wasn’t the best distraction, but it certainly worked. “WHAT!” Fail grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him violently.

Jay choked on thin air and Branzy shouted at him, “HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN THAT!?”

“...uh… a couple days?”

“WHAT!!!”

Rek poked him in the chest accusingly, “And you didn’t tell us?”

“What the hell man! We gotta know these things!” Jay exclaimed.

“Can you turn into a slime puddle?” Fail demanded.

“Can you climb up walls like me?” Jay questioned.

“Hold up!!!” Sand held up his hands for silence, “First of all,  I didn’t tell you guys because it wasn’t that important.” Fail opened his mouth to argue, but Sand cut him off, “Second of all, I can’t turn into a puddle. Basically the only ability I get is a really good memory, not that it did me any good here, oh, and the blue skin of course. And lastly, Jay, what do you mean you can climb walls?”

Branzy and Rek turned to Jay in curiosity. Sand internally celebrated.

Yes! Distracted! Now Jay’s under the spotlight!

Jay didn’t look happy with this fact as he fumbled with his words, “Oh, uh, I guess I forgot to tell you. You all know how my hair moves on its own?” they all nodded, “Well… it’s probably easier to show you.”

Jay walked up to one of the tall purple trees, pressed his hand on the side of it and pulled himself up, without actually grabbing it. The shouting started back up again, reaching a whole new decibel. Fail pointed at Jay in fake anger, “You’re as bad as that one!” and he gestured to Sand.

“No I’m not!” Jay protested, “I just forgot to the rest of you. I told Skip! Well, I actually didn’t tell him, he was just there when I figured it out.”

Branzy whirled on Skip, “YOU KNEW! You knew AND YOU DIDN’T TELL US!?”

Skip shrugged, rubbing his temples, “Whoops?”

The shouting turned to screaming, turned to playfully hitting, which turned to tackling, which then turned to a full-on brawl. Sand tried to stay out of the epic battle, but was ultimately unsuccessful when Jay grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him into the brawl.

Once they were all sweaty and satisfied they just sat, peacefully, in a circle. It was nice to get out some of the nervous energy that had been festering inside all of them, even Sand had to admit that. “We should probably keep searching for the magician.”

Though they all grumbled as Fail said it, none of them argued. 

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two figures, surrounded in the dark of the night, leapt gracefully off the side of their massive boat. “This has to be it. This has to be the island they escaped to.”

The second figure glanced at their companion, “And what will we do once we find them?”

The first grunted, “Depends on how much they remember.”

“Hopefully nothing. That would make our lives so much easier.”

“Yes. Some of these people- well, one in particular- have much experience in battle, so we might want to try… a different way to make them comply with our wishes.” The two started walking along the sand.

“Maybe he forgot how to fight. Also, is it too much to hope that they’ve killed each other by now?”

The figure shot a glare at the other, “That kind of battle skill doesn’t just go away, trust me, even if he forgot, he’d be a dangerous opponent. And we need them alive. They are valuable, and have been selected for a reason.”

“Yes, I know. I’m only concerned that they’ve discovered a way to retrieve their memories.”

“They won’t.”

The second figure chuckled darkly, “That’s what you said when I warned you that they would escape the retrieval crew.”

“This time is different.”

“Oh yeah? Why?”

“Because this time, I’m the one hunting them.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Branzy was the first to spot it, shouting in excitement at the outline of a tower that had crept into his vision. He raced ahead of the others, who still couldn’t see what Branzy saw, but trusted his eyesight. 

The tower was crooked, purple, and practically radiated magic and power. “This… this is it right?” Fail timidly mumbled.

“How could it not be?” Jay answered, still gaping at the structure.

Rek hesitantly stepped forward, “Do we knock?”

The great double doors swung open suddenly, and out stepped a man in a flowing red cloak. The man stood in the doorway with a pleasant smile on his face. He held a large brown staff and gave a sweeping bow. “Hello travelers. I am Souli Layce, Sorcerer of the Void.” he straightened and gazed at the group with intelligent, sparkling eyes, “I’ve been expecting you.”

Chapter Text

Stepping into Souli’s tower felt like stepping into another world. It looked exactly like Jay had imagined it, while also being completely different. It was somehow darker than the outside, but easier to see if that made sense. There were weird purple box-like creatures guarding the large hallways which twisted and turned until Jay had thoroughly lost all sense of direction. And then there was the mist. Cold dark purple mist swirled around the group’s ankles as they walked.

Jay, with nothing else to do, took a quick survey of the group. Fail looked like he was about to burst, holding back a ton of questions. Rek seemed content, as if he was happy to be out of the open. Sand was scanning the hallways with intense concentration, probably trying to remember the path they were taking. Skip looked… kinda sad? The blonde’s eyes were on the misty floor, not really caring about the wonders the tower had to offer around him.

Several more turns later they entered a much more spacious room. It was circular, with purple pillars supporting a domed roof. An enormous black basin filled with a dark glittery liquid dominated the center of the room. “What is this?” Fail blurted out, unable to hold back his questions anymore.

“This,” Souli gestured to the pool with a sweep of his staff, “Is the gateway back to the overworld. Just hop into the portal, and you will be back to wherever you last slept. Although,” Souli turned back to face the group, “I feel you have come to me for a reason, and do not wish to leave the end quite yet.”

Jay knew what had to be done. He elbowed Rek. Rek turned his head to the other quizzically. Jay nudged him again and nodded at the sorcerer, silently urging him on. Understanding dawned on Rek’s face and he glanced back at the rest of the group. He was met with a few smiles and a thumbs up. With a quick glare back at Jay, Rek begrudgingly stepped forward, “Yes sir. You see, me and my friends have a…” he paused, searching for the words, “a slight problem.”

“More than slight.” Sand muttered in a voice that was probably meant to be quiet, but the sound bounced around the room for all to hear.

Rek nodded, “Yeah, it’s actually pretty serious. So… about- a little over two weeks ago, we all kinda just… woke up. Without like, any of our memories. Like, we didn’t know what we were doing there or anything. We were also kinda stranded on an island, and we were hoping you could… Well, y’know. Get our memories back.”

Souli smiled kindly, “Using void magic of course.”

Rek nodded again, “We also thought you might be able to send us home, but we realized that might be kind of a stretch for void magic.”

The sorcerer stepped toward them. He walked past Rek and Sand, until he stood in front of Branzy and murmured, “I would do anything to help another of my kind.”

“...”

“...”

“... what?” Branzy squeaked.

Souli sighed, “I suppose it’s to be expected, seeing as you don’t remember.” He turned back to the rest of the group, “I’m afraid I must borrow Branzy for a moment. We have something quite important to discuss and will be back shortly.” 

Jay blinked, not quite believing the abrupt end of the conversation. He watched the sorcerer guiding a stunned Branzy out by the shoulders. As soon as the two left the room he heard Sand whisper to Rek, “Did you happen to tell him our names?”

Rek froze, “No. No I didn’t.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So uh,” Branzy chuckled nervously, “What did you mean one of your kind?”

He’d been led by Souli into another room, this time with fluffy couches, soft carpets, and -best of all- juice. Chorus fruit juice as he was told, and it was delicious. It was sweet, fruity, and a bit sour, and Branzy absolutely loved it.

 Souli sat down beside him, “A void creature of course.” 

“Void creature… right… what’s that mean?” Branzy wished the words had jogged his memory, but his mind frustratingly stayed blank.

Souli tapped his finger against his mug, choosing his words carefully, “Your… other hybrid half, was from the end.”

Branzy sat up straighter, excitement fizzling up inside him, “You know what I am? I’m not just human?”

“No Branzy. You’re part enderman, the original people of the void. The powerful and wise guardians of the end. Unlike your overworld friends, you are different. You are special.” The sorcerer placed his hand on Branzy’s, “You have the power of your people, the power of the end, hidden inside you.”

Branzy could barely stop himself from squealing out loud, “I have magic?! How do I use it? What can I do?”

I can actually do something useful?

“Not all magic comes in the form of sorcery, how it resides in you is for you to discover.” Souli sipped his juice, “I brought you away from your little friends for a reason, however, your heritage was merely an excuse to bring you away from them. You must speak these next words to no one.”

Branzy nodded, more than a bit confused. What could Souli possibly have to tell him that he couldn’t share with his friends? The sorcerer continued, “I know you possess a totem. I can feel its power from your pocket.”

“A totem?”

“Totem of undying.” Souli agreed, “It’s ability grants you an advantage over all other beings in the overworld. Do not lose it.”

Branzy’s brain stuttered to a halt as he processed the words. Slowly, he pulled out the little golden figure from his pocket. The one he’d never taken out. He saw Souli nod. This was the totem? How could something that small be so powerful? “Undying.” Souli spoke as if he’d heard Branzy’s thoughts, “It allows the owner of the totem to cheat death. That is one of the most powerful items in our universe. Many people will do anything for it.”

Branzy nearly choked on air and rapidly stuffed it back into his pockets. He’d just been carrying around a get-out-of-death-free card in his pocket!? 

He looked up at Souli, the man had some look in his eyes, almost jealousy, but not quite. Branzy supposed he couldn’t really blame him, who wouldn’t want an ability like that?

 “That is all,” Souli stood up, with a wave of his staff, both his and Branzy’s mugs disappeared.

Branzy didn’t even notice, he was still reeling. Cheat death. His worries washed away at the words, and a deep comfort filled his chest. He could practically feel the worried caution that had become his constant companion wash away. The comfort however was quickly followed by guilt. What made him more worthy than his friends to escape death itself? 

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group gathered near the portal to the overworld, none of them talking and the air full of tension. Souli took his time getting situated, sitting precariously on the edge of the portal. Fail was half certain that if someone breathed the wrong way, the sorcerer would fall into it.

Souli laid his staff across his knees and began, “You’ve come a long way in search of answers.”

The group waited, collectively holding their breath. Souli let out a sigh, “I’ll make it quick. I admire the effort you put in to get here, I really do, unfortunately… I can not help you.”

Fail visibly deflated. Everyone else just stood, shocked. “Let me explain.” Souli continued, “I cannot bring back your memories with void magic, as void magic was not the magic that took them in the first place.”

“...”

“Soooo what is?” Jay asked quietly.

“You mean we came all this way for freaking nothing?” Sand snapped, stomping his foot and basically radiating fury. 

“Whoah,” Rek placed a calming hand on the blue man’s shoulder, “Calm down it’s fi-”

“It is not fine!” Sand practically shoved Rek’s arm away. Fail could see the exhaustion in Sand’s eyes and frustration in his rigid shoulders. It made Fail sad to see Sand like this, the guy had done nothing but guide them the whole time, and to find out it was all a waste…

Souli turned his sad eyes back to Jay, “It is not any magic from the end. It’s from the overworld.”

Seeing Sand’s fists clench, Fail spoke up, “It’s Okay! We can just, um, go back to the island and, I don’t know, build a boat or something!”

“Yeah.” Rek jumped in with a confident nod, “Now that we know what dimension to find a sorcerer, we can just go looking for one.”

Jay kept his voice light, “I’m sure we could figure out how to build a boat. Easy!”

The four turned to Branzy and Skip, waiting for some positive reinforcement. Skip looked up from the floor, “Uhh, totally!” He quickly adopted an easy smirk, “We’ll find a way to pull through, don’t you worry Sand man.”

Branzy nodded enthusiastically, “This team can do anything.”

“Seems like we can only do nothing.” Sand muttered quietly.

 Souli stood up, “Now now. Before you go rushing back to your dimension, I think some of you need some time to, ah, process this. Why don’t you stay here for a little while and relax? I have plenty of chorus fruit juice.”

“We would love that!” Branzy beamed.

Fail watched as both Jay and Rek readily agreed. He really wanted to get back to the overworld, more accurately, the water. Something about the end, and Souli, just set Fail on edge. But he supposed being part fish, he might feel a bit out of place in the end. He followed Souli out of the room.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Look.” Skip tiredly approached Sand as soon as Souli left with the others, “I get it, you hate me. I’ve got no clue why, but you do.” Sand opened his mouth to argue, but Skip cut him off, “I honestly couldn’t care less about what you think of me anymore. And I’m done trying to argue with you over every little thing, but you’ve gotta stop being so negative, man. You might not notice it, but you lower the morale of all of us stuck with you when you bite people’s heads off. You might not even think that matters because you’re just being statistical and stuff, but sometimes optimism is more important than realism.”

Sand glared at Skip, but kept his voice cold and steady, “Skip, I don’t know what your problem is. I’m allowed to say what I want, you just get mopey about the truth, because I’m the one who said it. I hate you? Nah, you hate me. And I’m not gonna go tiptoeing around the truth, just because you get a bit cranky. The world doesn’t revolve around you.”

Hurt flashed briefly in Skip’s eyes, but he quickly turned his head to hide it. Sand sighed, “I don’t hate you Skip, I really don’t.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Sand silenced him with a glare, “I don’t like you either. I’ll admit that. So how about we just stay away from each other, before we ruin something.”

“Why though?” Skip let his confident shell drop, only showing the tired man underneath, “Why do you ha- dislike me so much?”

Sand bit his lip, “ Might as well get this over with. I don’t trust you Skip. I think you’re playing a character to get what you want.”

“Playing a character?” Skip echoed, mystified, “How can I be playing a character? I don’t even know who I am.”

“I don’t know, but I’m not taking any chances.”

Sand nodded at Skip, “I’ll leave you alone, if you leave me alone.” Without waiting for Skip’s response, Sand marched away, clearly satisfied with having said his part.

The instant the blue man was out of sight, Skip took a few deep breaths, rubbing one hand along his back. He stayed like this for a while, fighting off the inner sadness that he knew wasn’t like him. He was supposed to be happy, why did he feel so sad? “It’s this stupid dimension. I hate the end.” Skip breathed aloud.

He sat down with his back to a wall and just breathed, taking the whole room in. It did look like a wizard’s place Skip realized with a smile. Pain erupted in Skip’s back, white hot and stabbing. “Shit!” The blonde desperately clawed at his back, trying to remove whatever was burning him.  But there was nothing there. 

“Skip?”

Branzy’s voice echoed around the room. Sweet, concerned Branzy froze dead in his tracks, staring at him; arms wrapped around his torso and tears welling in his eyes. Branzy rushed forward, “Skip! Are you ok?! Do you need me to get, ummm, water or something?”

“I’m fine,” Skip managed to say through the pain that was thankfully subsiding. “I’m good.”

“What happened!? Were you attacked? I’ll go call Rek!” 

“No, don't!” Skip snatched Branzy’s wrist, “Please don’t tell anybody.”

Branzy raised a worried eyebrow, “Skip. You need to tell me what’s going on.”

Skip winced, but he could clearly see the determination in his friend’s face, “Ok, I’ll tell you. Just, please, don’t tell anyone else.”

Branzy hesitated, only for a moment, then nodded while sitting down slowly next to Skip. Skip wondered briefly about what he should tell the other, Sand or the unrelenting back pain. “So… Ever since I woke up, I’ve kinda had this back pain? I didn’t wanna bother you guys about it, and it really wasn’t that bad!”

Branzy smiled encouragingly and Skip continued, “It doesn’t even hurt when I’m in the nether, so I figured heat makes whatever back issue I have feel better. But when I entered the end, maybe it was the cold or something, but it just hurts so much right now.”

Skip couldn’t stop the words from flowing out now that the door was open, “And now I’m all sad and angry, and I got in a fight with Sand, who hates me, and I don’t know if I hate him or if the end is messing with my head, and I feel like everyone keeps looking at me weird, and Jay’s probably upset with me because I accidentally tripped him and forgot to apologize, and now I’m worrying you about everything, and somehow have a headache that won’t fucking go away !”

Skip took a deep breath. “Okay, I feel a lot better now.” He admitted.

There were a few moments of silence as Branzy struggled to process everything that Skip had just thrown at him. “I’m sorry Skip. I didn’t know.”

“That’s not your fault, I never told you.”

“Why didn’t you?”
Skip thought for a second, “I don’t know actually. I guess I just felt like I shouldn’t let anyone worry about me.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

Branzy would go through hell and back to help any of the group, Skip could see that. “I could use a distraction. What’d you and Souli talk about?”

Branzy’s eyes lit up, “It was wonderful Skip, I know what I am now!”

Skip blinked, “As in species?”

“Uh huh! I’m an enderman hybrid! That’s why I feel so great here, the end is my natural habitat!!”

“That’s awesome Branz! Wait, what are endermen?”

“Ok, so, they’re like really tall, humanoid creatures. They’ve got glowing purple eyes- like me!- and void-black skin! They speak in almost English, but-”

“Wait.” Skip stopped him, a terrible idea forming in his mind, “Can endermen… teleport?”

Branzy nodded slowly, “Yeah, how’d you know?”

Skip felt like he was going to throw up, “Branzy. A few days ago, I saw one in the overworld. Remember when Rek broke his arm?” Branzy nodded, though he and the rest of the group had never been told what happened, “Well, an enderman was what broke his arm. It almost killed him too. The thing is Branz… Rek was terrified of it. I’ve never seen him act that way before, like, he couldn’t even defend himself.”

Throughout this whole exchange, Branzy’s eyes had gradually lost their joy, and now his face was filled with as much horror as Skip was feeling. Branzy let out a short hysterical laugh, “Y- you think he’ll be afraid of me now?”

“I hope not.”

Branzy’s pale face hardened with a sudden determination. “Then don’t tell him.”

Skip felt like he’d misheard, “What?”

Branzy seized both of Skip’s hands, squeezing hard enough to be painful, “I don’t want to lose a friend. Not after we just found out we can’t even get our memories back for a while. Don’t. Tell. Anybody. What I am, ok? This has to stay between us.”

Skip knew in a heartbeat that he wouldn’t betray his friend’s trust. If Branzy wanted to keep this a secret, then he would absolutely stay quiet. “Unless you ask me to, I promise I won’t tell a soul.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Did you guys hear that?” Jay asked suddenly.

Fail glanced around, “Hear what?”

Jay, Fail, Rek, and Sand were sitting (or lying) on the roof of the tower, waiting for Branzy and Skip so they could go through the portal together. Ok, and maybe they were silently moping together.

The cool air felt nice on everyone’s skin and the darkness was actually comforting. It was a pretty good place to relax and none of them were particularly eager to rush back to the island anyway.

Jay stood up, “It sounded like a growl.”

Fail shrugged, “I didn’t hear anything.”

Sand sighed from where he was lying face-down in the center, “Probably the wind.”

Rek, crosslegged and possibly meditating, glanced over at him, “There is no wind here.”

“Mmm.” Sand flipped him off.

Fail flopped onto his back, “Maybe we just need sleep. Or you’re schizophrenic. I feel like both are likely.”

“There it was again!” Jay exclaimed.

Rek shot to his feet, “I heard it too!” He pulled out his sword.

Fail clambered up and pulled Sand to his feet, ignoring Sand’s growling. Jay crept to the edge of the tower and peered into the darkness below, searching for the origin of the noise. 

Giant purple eyes stared back at him.

Jay screamed, leaping back away from the edge, crashing into Fail and knocking them both over. Massive black claws gripped the side of the roof as the beast hauled itself up.

“What the hell is that!” Jay shrieked, scrambling off of Fail.

Enormous scaly body, jagged sharp claws, midnight black wings, murderous glowing eyes, “That’s a dragon.” Sand announced, voice trembling slightly.

The dragon, seeming to not be in the best of moods, unleashed an earthshaking roar- and then it’s mouth started glowing. “EVERYONE GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!” Sand shouted.

He didn’t have to tell Jay twice. In a second, Jay was sprinting across the roof, narrowly dodging a bright purple ball that exploded into small purple flames. Now if he could just get to the side of the tower, he could climb down it with ease.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could the muscles of the beast ripple as it reared up, roaring in rage. If he wasn’t running for his life, he might have even stopped to appreciate the majesty of such an incredible creature.

Jay was almost at the edge when he felt a claw seize him. He let out a sharp cry of pain as talons dug into his ribs puncturing skin. The wounds fell to the back of his mind however as his feet left the ground. Fail shouted his name, causing Sand and Rek to spin around, their eyes widening once they saw him in the dragon’s painful grasp.

Jay squirmed desperately, he could feel blood running down his side. Suddenly, the dragon was airborne, carrying Jay along with it.

I don’t want to die!

Jay kicked his legs and wiggled around in vain, ignoring the pain in his ribs. Twang! A golden arrow shot past Jay’s head, almost too fast to see. The projectile planted itself firmly into the dragon’s eye with a sickening squish.

The dragon roared in pain, and then did the worst thing possible. It dropped Jay.

A scream ripped itself from his already hoarse throat and he plummeted toward the ground. He fell right past the tower, barely catching the sounds of his friend’s panicked shrieks over the whistle of air in his ears. The ground was approaching way too fast, and there was nothing to slow his descent.

I guess this is it.

At least he felt no pain as his body hit the ground. Somehow he also managed to hear the awful crunch that had to be his bones. Then everything went black.